MaurineTheuri
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Former Homeboyz Radio presenter Shaffie Weru has threatened to sue his former employer, Radio Africa, for unfair and unlawful termination of employment.
In a demand letter addressed to Radio Africa’s general manager, Shaffie who had before March 27 worked for the company for over 18 years, has demanded Sh21 million in damages.
Shaffie wants one month’s salary in lieu of notice which is a whopping Sh682,500. He also wants 12 months salary for unfair termination (Sh8,190,000) and gratuity (Sh12,285,000).
The former Kiss 100 presenter wants his demands met in 7 days (April 6), failure to which he has threatened to move to court.
Through his lawyer, Dr Nabil M. Orina, Shaffie notes that he is still confused as to what exactly led to his dismissal.
According to the former “Lift Off” show host, he received his termination letter on the night of March 26 at around 11 pm. He had on the same day been suspended for making “inappropriate and insensitive comments”.
Apparently, his suspension letter showed that he had made the alleged comments on March 25 while the summary dismissal letter showed the remarks were made on March 24.
“Our client is still lost and confused as to the exact comments you allude to,” his lawyer says.
Shaffie has also accused the company of not according him a fair hearing. The decision to let him go, he says, was made by a member of the organisation who acted as both the judge and accuser.
In fact, Shaffie says, his dismissal was a “crafty scheme” by the company to fire him so as to avoid paying the terminal benefits.
Shaffie was fired alongside his two co-hosts; Neville Musya and Dj Joe Mfalme.
They are said to have made insensitive comments about a sexual abuse victim, Eunice Wangari.
Eunice was on September 13, 2020, thrown off a building by her Facebook boyfriend after she rejected his sexual advances.
Also suing the company for wrongful dismissal is Terry Muikamba who left Classic 105 FM last year.
According to Terry, her grievances date back to 2019 when she was first diagnosed with Graves’ Disease, an immune system disorder that results in the overproduction of thyroid hormones which affects the body system.
It was after her hospitalisation that her superiors among them the Director of Programs, Pete Sinclair, started referring to her in derogatory terms.
“He would on numerous occasions refer to the claimant in a derogatory manner and refer to her as a sickling and follow it up with a fucking useless,” court documents read.
Terry wants Radio Africa to declare that she was wrongfully dismissed from work and is seeking damages for wrongful termination equivalent to 12 months’ pay. She is also seeking damages for infringement of her rights as protected under article 35 of the constitution and wants to be issued with a certificate of service.
“Aggravated and General damages for infringement of the claimant’s rights, 1-year salary for the remainder of her contract period from November 30, 2020, to November 30, 2021, amounting to Sh2,160,000.”