Employers to File Annual Employee Register Every January

Employers with a workforce of more than 25 are now required to submit their records on vacancies, abolished positions and job terminations to the National Employment Authority (NEA) that was launched on May 17.

The move seeks to keep track of employee layoffs and recruitments both in government workplaces and in the private sector, to provide more accurate labor statistics.

NEA acting Director General, Edith Okoki said that the information will help the government come up with guidelines for employers.

“The reason why we need this data from employers is that we would wish to come up with a sound and responsive employment policy and strategy for the country,” she said.

As Kenya does not have any recent records of employment numbers, the data from employers, which will be submitted to the nearest service offices upon terminations or lay-offs of employees will also help with establishing unemployment rate.

“An employer shall notify the termination of every employment and of each layoff of a person in writing to the nearest employment service office within two weeks of termination or layoff,” said Ms. Okoki.

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) conducted a household survey in 2016 June and reported unemployment rate to be at 7.4 percent by last year.

KNBS, which collates data on the number of new jobs created annually reported that a total of 800,000 jobs were created in both the formal and informal sectors.

Ms. Okoki said that NEA will join hands with the KNBS so that in future even more accurate data and reports are given by the bureau.

Going forward, employers will file their annual register of employees every January as required by the employment law, or risk being fined up to 100,000 shillings or a six-month jail term or both if found guilty by a court of law.

The Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) however is not in agreement with this decision by NEA, saying that it supports the data collection since it will help with proper planning but do not welcome the idea of pushing threats to employers.

“As FKE, we want NEA to focus on raising awareness about the filing of employee register so that employers are well informed and in turn voluntarily file the register, before issuing threats,” said Jackline Mugo, FKE’s Executive Director.