Rejected swimming trip visa letter request sparks Sh5.9m workplace award

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A rejected visa support letter request for a child’s trip for a swimming competition in South Africa became the final trigger in a workplace dispute that cost logistics firm Schenker Limited Sh5.9 million.

The Employment and Labour Relations Court found that the company's Mombasa Branch Manager, Larissa Manson Hart, was constructively dismissed after workplace disputes ended with her resignation in February 2017.

Ms Hart joined Schenker in February 2013, at a gross monthly salary of Sh500,000, which rose to Sh509,000 from September 2016. She reported directly to the Managing Director.

Her case was that the relationship deteriorated from early 2016. She alleged that the director shouted at and embarrassed her during management conference calls, and that the company altered her reporting structure without consultation.

She alleged that she was subjected to a final disciplinary warning over a cargo shipment despite having an otherwise unblemished record.

Ms Hart subsequently complained to management and regional and international executives. None of the senior executives copied on her November 2016 open letter intervened.

The dispute came to a head in February 2017, when Schenker declined to provide Ms Hart with the letter of employment she needed to submit to the South African High Commission as part of her visa application.

Ms Hart said that she needed the letter in order to obtain a visa to accompany her 10-year-old son to a national swimming competition in South Africa.

The court found that the refusal was not enough by itself, but became the “last straw” after earlier disputes and unsuccessful attempts to resolve them.

“Viewed against that backdrop, the refusal functioned as confirmation, rather than the origin, of what the claimant had already come to understand,” the court said in the judgment delivered on August 10, 2026.

“It was, properly understood, the last straw, not because it was itself the gravest of the acts complained of, but because it was the final demonstration that nothing had changed and nothing would.”

Ms Hart alleged that the director shouted at her during management conference calls on March 8 and September 14, 2016, in front of colleagues and subordinates.

She also challenged a restructuring that changed her reporting line, leaving her answerable to another employee despite remaining Branch Manager.

The company said the restructuring followed disruption to its Mombasa freight operations caused by the Standard Gauge Railway and did not alter Ms Hart’s title, grade or pay.

The court rejected that explanation, finding that the ‘such other capacity’ clause in Ms Hart’s contract did not authorise a wholesale change to her reporting hierarchy without consultation or explanation.

It said that the clause did not authorise “a wholesale alteration of the seniority hierarchy to make a Branch Manager, engaged on the express footing that she would report to the Managing Director, instead answerable to a more junior colleague.”

The dispute intensified over an Ingredion shipment, after which Schenker issued Ms Hart a final warning for alleged gross insubordination on October 24, 2016.

The court noted that it was her first disciplinary communication after more than three years of unblemished service and was issued without a hearing.

Ms Hart protested the warning twice and later sent an open letter to nine regional and global executives seeking intervention. None intervened.

The court rejected Schenker’s argument that she had simply resigned voluntarily or waited too long before leaving.

Ms Hart had repeatedly protested the restructuring and warning before resigning, and the judge found that she had tried to preserve the employment relationship.

Her resignation letter described the departure as constructive dismissal and said there was a “complete breakdown of trust and confidence”.

The court found her testimony credible and supported by contemporaneous documents, despite Schenker’s failure to call witnesses.

Schenker had filed five witness statements, including the director's, but postponed its case four times before closing it without calling any witness.

The court expunged those statements because their authors were never examined.

The court held that constructive dismissal can arise from cumulative conduct, even where no single incident independently justifies resignation.

The court awarded Ms Hart Sh1.5 million for three months’ salary instead of notice, Sh4 million for unfair constructive dismissal and Sh296,832 for 17 days of untaken leave.

The claimant had sought 12 months’ compensation, but the court awarded eight months. It rejected claims for salary underpayment, a 2016 bonus, exemplary damages and general damages.

The court also dismissed Schenker’s Sh1.5 million counterclaim for three months’ notice pay.

Reporting originally appeared via Business Daily. Read the full source for additional context.