JSC ordered to pay Oyatsi Ksh.12M, confirm her as finance director in 60 days

Acting Judiciary Finance Director Susan Oyatsi has received a lifeline after the High Court ordered the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to pay her over Ksh.12 million in damages and confirm her as Director of Finance within 60 days.

Oyatsi had moved to court to sue the JSC after the Commission, in 2021, advertised the Finance Director position as vacant, despite the fact that she had held the docket for the better part of six years, having been appointed in an acting capacity in 2015. 

She had originally sued JSC for Ksh.22 million and asked the court to quash the aforementioned job advertisement. JSC however wanted the case to be dismissed entirely.

According to Justice Nduma Nderi, JSC’s move to advertise the said position was ill-advised as it portrayed Oyatsi as being incapable of leading the Commission’s finance department.

Nderi also questioned why Oyatsi was never confirmed as Finance Director in the period and why she was overlooked when JSC conducted interviews for the position in 2015 and 2019.

“The petitioner was subjected to undignified work conditions as compared to her peers and a false narrative being sent out implied that she was incompetent and not deserving of the position she so diligently, ably and graciously served for over six years,” said Justice Nderi said in her ruling.

In her petition, Oyatsi likewise argued that her remuneration did not match her job title noting that it was significantly lower than what previous holders of the docket had been earning. 

To add onto her argument, Oyatsi highlighted how two of her male colleagues, who were appointed as Acting Audit and Risk Management Directors at around the same time she joined the company, were confirmed into their respective positions without much hassle.

“She suffered and endured less remuneration than her counterparts which in itself is a humiliating and aggravating factor in this case. That the position of Director of Finance fell vacant eight years ago and to date has never been formally filed with a substantive holder,” Nderi added.