The Employment and Labour Relations Court judge Byram Ongaya has ordered the suspension of the mass sacking of 184 content moderators by a subcontractor for Facebook’s parent company Meta.
Further, the court has directed the social media giant to counsel the employees.
The moderators, employed in Nairobi by Sama, an outsourcing firm for Meta, filed a March lawsuit claiming their dismissal was “unlawful”.
In a 142-page ruling, labour court judge Byram Ongaya said Meta and Sama were “restrained from terminating the contracts” pending the lawsuit's determination challenging the dismissal's legality.
“An interim order is hereby issued that any contracts that were to lapse before the determination of the petition be extended” until the case is settled,” Ongaya noted.
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Additionally, the court has barred Facebook’s new outsourcing firm, Luxembourg-headquartered Majorel, from blacklisting the moderators from applying for the same roles.
It was also mandated that Meta, the company that owns Instagram and WhatsApp, "provide proper medical, psychiatric and psychological care for the petitioners and other Facebook content moderators."
However, Meta informed the court that it will be appealing the judgement.
Meta claims that it has no official presence in the nation of East Africa and that Meta does not employ the complainants.
The petitioners' attorney, Mercy Mutemi, stated that they were "very pleased" with the rulings and that it was "critical that the court has found Facebook is the true employer of its moderators."
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