Doctor seeks Ksh.41M settlement from city hospital in sexual harassment suit

The doctor, who is seeking Ksh.41 million compensation, says the hospital illegally sacked her on September 8 thus mistreating her and demeaning her dignity.

“We are asking the court to order Aga Khan Hospital to compensate for exposing the doctor to an environment that she was sexually harassed and assaulted by the said staff with the management’s full knowledge based on previous sex scandals involving the senior staff,” the doctor’s lawyer Ong’aya Ombo was quoted as saying by The Standard.

The senior staff in question is reportedly a quality advisor and corporate medical liaison officer between the hospital and the United Nations and the doctor claims he has used their close working relationship to sexually harass her.

“Since he was her supervisor, he would call her to his office under the pretext of querying on assigned duties before 7 a.m. or after 4:30 p.m. when there was less traffic in his office for the sole purpose of sexually harassing her,” said Ombo.

She further cites being demanded to share about her husband, suggestive phone calls and messages and inappropriate touching which the supervisor allegedly said were accidental.

The doctor claims that after reporting the issue with the hospital management, she was issued a new supervisor and the supervisor was not penalised.

“...he started targeting her using proxies. He made it clear that he would frustrate the female doctor and boasted that he was a very senior person with influence at the hospital management and board of directors”.

The doctor says that she went into isolation in September 2020 after interaction with a COVID-19 patient but upon resumption to work she was accused of absconding duty.

In July this year, she says she was summoned before the disciplinary committee and forced to write a resignation letter before being dismissed in September.

The doctor now wants Ksh15.6  million compensation for underpayment during her one-year tenure, Ksh.15.2 million for unpaid overtime hours, Ksh.6.6 million for unfair termination of her contract and an additional Ksh.1.6 million for unremitted pension and other claims.

The hospital and the said supervisor have been given three weeks by the Employment and Labour Relations Court to respond to the suit.