Court bars Facebook from sacking content creators
By Nancy.Gitonga, March 23, 2023
Meta Platforms Inc (FB.O), the owner of Facebook and Instagram has suffered a major setback after a Kenya court has halted its planned decision to lay off over 260 content moderators in Nairobi hub at the end of this month.
Justice Mathews Nderi Nduma of the Employment and Labour Relations court barred Meta and outsourcing company Samasource Kenya EPZ Limited from hiring other content moderators to do the work currently being done by the moderators that were to be laid off.
Meta is seeking termination of the content moderation workforce claiming that it is part of the social media firm’s strategy to restructure its tech and business groups.
The judge slammed brakes on plans by Meta and Sama to lay off the entire content moderation workforce at Sama offices Nairobi pending the hearing of the case lodged by 43 petitioners who claim the planned termination is illegal and unlawful.
The 43 Facebook content moderators in Kenya say they were hired by Sama on behalf of Meta and allege that the redundancy being undertaken was unlawful as it does not follow the strict procedure laid out under the country’s employment laws.
“An interim injunction is granted restraining Meta and Sama from implementing in any manner whatsoever anything incidental to or related to the Redundancy Notice issued to Facebook Content Moderators (GPL 8 CO) on January 10, 2023 as read together with the Redundancy Notice issued on January 18, 2023,” Justice Nduma ordered.
“In particular, and for greater certainty, Meta and Sama are restrained from terminating the contracts of the Facebook Content Moderators pending the hearing of this application,” the judge directed. The court also barred Meta and the outsourcing companies from varying the contractual terms of the Facebook Content Moderators (GPL 8 CO) in a manner unfavorable to the said moderators.