The Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) has been dealt a second blow in a week after the employment court ruled that it cannot disregard memoranda the national and county governments submit to it in reviewing remuneration and benefits.
Justice Byram Ongaya said the commission cannot on its own set and advise on the salaries and benefits without considering the voice of the two employers.
“In other words, the respondent (SRC) does not serve its own created real or perceived needs, but it is established and exists to address requests presented to it by relevant authorities in the national and county governments towards exercising and discharging its constitutional and statutory functions,” Justice Ongaya said.
The ruling comes five days after the High Court directed the SRC to reinstate a Sh10 million car allowance it scrapped in 2021. A bench of three judges ruled on Friday that the taxable car allowance for judges is protected under the Constitution and cannot be taken away or varied.
In the latest ruling, the judge added that in undertaking its functions and powers, the SRC cannot act suo moto (on its own motion) without responding to proposed or communicated needs of the national and county governments.
Justice Ongaya made the decision in a petition the 47 county public service boards (CPSB) filed, accusing the salaries agency of purporting to set benefits for county workers.
The CPSB further accused the SRC of failure to recognise them as State officers, occasioning the loss of benefits and gratuities due to them, yet they were competitively recruited and took office as such.
The boards complained that their counterparts at the Public Service Commission (PSC) were paid twice what they earn, yet they perform similar functions.
The boards claimed that unlike their counterparts in the PSC, whose chairperson is paid a gross salary of Sh765,188, at the counties the pay is Sh340,733.
Gazette notice
While the chairperson of PSC has a medical cover (inpatient) of up to Sh10 million at the county level, the figure is Sh2 million. Further, those under PSC have a house allowance and official transport.
They further submitted that the vice chairperson of PSC is paid Sh650,000 while at the county, that office draws Sh243,967, similar terms applying to a board member and secretary.
The county public service boards accuse the SRC of omitting the salaries from a gazette notice published on July 27, 2022, which set the salaries for members of the PSC, yet they perform the PSC’s job at the county level.
Justice Ongaya, however, ruled that the chairperson, vice chairperson, member and secretary of the county public service board are not State officers but public officers.
The court directed the SRC to ensure that a year to the next remuneration review cycle, which happens every four years, the commission will issue sufficient regulations providing for a participatory process of determining objective job appraisals and determination.
The judge said the SRC should hold stakeholder involvement with ascertainable timelines for each step and uphold the guiding principles and values.
The SRC indicated that it would appeal against the decision.
