Case Analysis

Poor Performance Dismissal After a Role Change During PIP Lawyer and Advocate in Nairobi

You were put on a performance improvement plan for one assignment, moved to another and then dismissed using the earlier process. Did you receive a fair opportunity to improve against the new expectations? A poor performance dismissal lawyer or advocate in Nairobi should compare the actual duties, targets and review records before treating the label PIP as the answer.

What the CCK judgment decided

Nairobi ELRC held the termination unlawful and unfair where the performance process changed across assignments with different strategies and indicators. It awarded KSh 3,111,120, equivalent to six months' gross salary, and KSh 518,520 notice pay, plus costs and interest from judgment. Defamation and discrimination claims were not proved. A 30-day stay was granted. The judgment did not find that no earlier performance plan existed; its critical assessment concerned the changed assignment and opportunity to improve. The claimant's identity remains abbreviated as ordered by the court.

Put the old and new duties side by side

Bring the job descriptions, assignment letters and documents setting objectives for each role. Identify what changed: product, territory, budget, reporting line or deliverable. A retained job title may conceal a different assignment. Equally, a new assignment may preserve some responsibilities, so record both continuity and change.

Make a dated chronology of the plan, reassignment, reviews, warnings and dismissal. Attach the document supporting each event. The advocate needs to establish which duties were being assessed at a particular time, rather than assume every record related to the final assignment.

Explain who set the new objectives and how they were communicated. Provide the meeting note or email where available. If you say a target was never given, check the full correspondence first. A precise dispute about a particular expectation is more useful than a denial contradicted by an acknowledged mandate.

Read the plan as an actual improvement process

Identify the performance gaps, actions required, support offered and review dates. Bring the completed records as well as the initial form. A signed plan may establish that a process began without establishing what coaching or assessment occurred afterward.

For each review, record what feedback was given and how you responded. Keep agreed actions and disputed comments distinct. If an entry says a meeting occurred, provide any record of the discussion and the work it concerned. The lawyer needs to test the substance of the process rather than only count meetings.

If an employer considers the same plan applicable after reassignment, identify the document explaining that position. If the employee considers it inapplicable, explain which targets or work conditions changed. The comparison should be grounded in the actual plan and later role, not a general assertion that changing jobs always requires starting again.

Document obstacles and the response to them

Provide contemporaneous records of unavailable resources, changed instructions, market restrictions or delayed approvals said to affect performance. Connect each to a specific deliverable and period. A broad statement that the business environment was difficult may not explain the particular failure relied on for dismissal.

Show when you raised the obstacle and what the employer did in response. Include responses that offered assistance or rejected your explanation. The advocate should be able to distinguish an issue reported during the assignment from a justification first advanced after termination.

Keep attendance and medical absence evidence accurate and relevant. Identify the period affected without disclosing unrelated health details in the general narrative. An adviser can assess whether an absence matters to the assessment and what record is needed to support that connection.

Compare the dismissal reasons with the notice and hearing

Give the lawyer the notice to show cause, written response, invitation, minutes and final letter. Identify any allegation added or changed along the way. A hearing on one set of issues does not necessarily answer an objection about a different reason subsequently relied upon.

Record whether you had access to the material used against you and whether the minutes accurately reflect your response. Preserve signed copies and any corrections requested. Avoid describing the entire hearing as nonexistent if you attended; explain the particular procedural concern.

If an internal appeal was made, include it and the outcome. If none was made, say so and provide any explanation relevant to advice. The court file and internal record should give a consistent account of which steps actually occurred.

Separate compensation from additional allegations

Prepare a salary and terminal-dues schedule supported by payslips and payment records. Distinguish notice, earned payments and compensation sought for unfair termination. Money already received should be identified rather than silently included again in a total claim.

If discrimination or defamation is alleged, provide the separate evidence supporting it. An unfair performance process does not automatically prove those claims. Identify the comparison relied on or the actual publication concerned, instead of using them as alternative labels for dissatisfaction with dismissal.

For a Nairobi performance dismissal consultation after reassignment, bring the role comparison, complete PIP record, objectives, obstacle chronology and disciplinary documents. A lawyer and advocate can assess whether the process gave a fair opportunity to address the performance actually relied on, and which remedies the available evidence supports.

Editorial analysis checked on 8 October 2026. Practical document guidance is commentary. The cited case is not our firm’s case or a promised outcome; later orders may affect its position.