Zachary Otieno, the Managing Director of Zaki Holdings LTD, has come under fire for allegedly mistreating employees.
Zaki Holdings is a Human Resource firm contracted by Veew Distributors to manage beer distribution in parts of Nairobi by providing sales assistants.
Former employees have made damning allegations against the company, claiming that it deducts Sh750 per month for NHIF and Sh200 for NSSF, but has not been remitting these statutory deductions.
The company allegedly forces staff members to pay for their medical bills and present receipts for reimbursement instead of remitting NHIF deductions, with some employees claiming they have been denied refunds based on fake and forged receipts.
Furthermore, staff members who question the remittance of NHIF and NSSF deductions are allegedly sacked immediately.
Some staff members have already taken Zaki Holdings and Veew Distributors to court over unfair dismissal after raising concerns about the non-remittance of statutory deductions.
Under Section 19(1) of the Employment Act, employers are required by law to deduct contributions to any approved fund or scheme agreed upon with the employee.
Zaki Holdings’ alleged failure to remit these deductions is a clear violation of this law and has left employees feeling mistreated and undervalued.
In addition to the issue of statutory deductions, the sales team at Zaki Holdings are reportedly subjected to inhumane working conditions, with poor pay and long working hours.
Despite being paid just Sh21,000, sales assistants are expected to report to work as early as 6.30 am and sign out as late as 8 pm, with no overtime pay for working more than 8 hours.
To add insult to injury, employees are allegedly put on three-month renewable contracts but are never given copies of their contracts, a clear violation of labour laws.
The treatment of employees at Zaki Holdings and Veew Distributors is unacceptable, and these allegations must be thoroughly investigated.
As the Managing Director of Zaki Holdings, Zachary Otieno should be held responsible for ensuring that the company abides by labour laws and treats its employees with respect and dignity.
