By Purity Ngigi – Sundays

The Employment Amendment  Bill No. 79 of 2019 seeks to amend Section 9 of the Employment Act by introducing a provision to stop employers from requiring the provision of mandatory clearance certificates from job applicants during recruitment.

The amendment provides that an employer shall not require a job applicant to procure clearance certificates for which the applicant must pay unless the employer intends to employ the applicant. 

In practice and compliance with Chapter 6 of the constitution, employers in the public sector have required job applicants to attach clearance certificates from various institutions while applying for jobs. Chapter 6 of the constitution requires that persons working for the public sector, otherwise known as state officials, exhibit leadership and integrity. As a result, employers need clearance certificates to confirm that the employee exhibits personal integrity, competence and suitability. 

The clearance certificates include;  Police Clearance Certificate to confirm the criminal record of an individual; Credit Reference Bureau clearance certificate to confirm the debt-standing record of an individual, the Higher Education Loans Board Certificate to ensure that the individual has repaid their student loan, the Ethics and Anti-corruption Certificate to confirm that the individual has no record of corruption.

While employers in the public sector have requested for clearance certificates, the amendment applies to all employers in both private and public sectors. 

The amendment also gives the employer the right to withdraw an offer of employment if the employer finds out that the applicant does not satisfy the requirements of Chapter 6 of the Constitution after issuing an offer to the job applicant. 

While the employer has the right to cancel the offer, it is worth noting that employers incur significant costs during recruitment, such as advertising and interviewing applicants. The bill, if assented to, will increase recruitment costs since employers will need to perform background checks on job applicants before issuing an offer for employment to avoid incurring further costs where the applicant does not satisfy the requirements of Chapter of the Constitution. 

The bill is awaiting the third reading after it was tabled in parliament for the second reading on 10th November 2021. We shall keep track of the bill’s and update you should the same be passed by parliament and assented to by the President.