Court Clarifies Supervisors’ Responsibility for Costly Staff Errors

A costly banking transaction prompted a disciplinary dispute, raising questions about how far supervisory responsibility extends when mistakes occur in the workplace.

The Employment and Labour Relations Court in Nairobi has ruled that employees in supervisory positions can be held responsible for operational failures committed by staff under their watch.

The court found that a team leader at a banking institution, who was dismissed after a high-value transaction error, had a greater duty to verify the payment before approving it and could not shift responsibility to other team members.

According to court documents obtained by Kenyans.co.ke, the dispute arose from a 2015 transaction in which Ksh48.18 million was erroneously transferred after the team leader incorrectly interpreted the details and validated the payment without completing the required verification checks.

“The claimant was therefore found negligent in her duties as team leader, whose role was to validate each transaction to avoid losses to the respondent bank,” the judgement stated.

Source: Kenyans.co.ke