Parents and their children shopping at Bata outlet along Tom Mboya Street. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Footwear maker Bata Shoe Kenya has sued an employment agency demanding a refund of
Sh32.5 million claiming that the company inflated workers’ wages through exaggerated invoices.The shoemaker alleges that H.R. Strategic Partners Ltd inflated the wages between January 2017 and February 2019 and wants the money refunded.
Court documents indicate that Bata Shoe procured the services of the employment recruitment agency, for the provision of manpower.
In the deal, the shoemaker would pay a standard fee of Sh417,000 on a monthly basis, irrespective of the number of workers engaged at the company. The invoices were to be raised every fortnight and no payment was to be made until the labour costs had been approved.
Bata, however, says that an internal audit carried out in February 2019 revealed that it had overpaid Sh32.5 million through exaggerated invoices. The company is now demanding a refund of the amount plus interest.
“The plaintiff further claims the right to trace the said sum of Kshs32,595,981 to the hands of the defendants, jointly and severally,” Bata says in the case filed at the High Court in Nairobi.
Bata has sued the employment agency together with its directors, Moses Kinuthia and Teresia Wanjiru Njuguna and the agency’s human resource assistant and finance managers. The agency was required to have not less than two qualified supervisors to manage and supervise the workers at its factory.
The shoemaker is accusing the recruitment agency of inflating the invoices for employees engaged, contrary to an agreement the companies entered. Further, the Limuru-based company accuses the agency of concealing the matter and failing to document the manpower supplied.
skiplagat@ke.nationmedia.com
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