When and how your employer must pay your wages
Employment Act; State Department for Labour and Skills Development · sources read 2 Oct 2026
Your employer must pay your full wages in Kenyan shillings: a casual worker at the end of each day, a monthly employee at the end of each month. Payment can be in cash, into your bank account, by cheque, or to someone you authorise in writing.
- Deadline
- A court case under the Employment Act must start within 3 years (or 12 months after a continuing wrong stops).
- Where
- Your area labour office; the Employment and Labour Relations Court
Steps
- If you are not paid on time or in full, you can complain to a labour officer or take the case to the employment court.
- At the area labour office, the officer interviews you and registers your complaint on Form LD 64, then calls you and your employer to a conciliation meeting.
- If the employer doesn't attend, the officer calculates what you are owed and sends the employer a demand notice.
- You can also file a claim at the Employment and Labour Relations Court.
Watch out
- Wilfully not paying wages is a crime: a fine of up to KSh 100,000, up to 2 years in jail, or both.
- Even if you are summarily dismissed for a lawful reason, you must be paid everything owed up to the day of dismissal.
- Your employer can't pay you at a place that sells alcohol, unless you work there.
Who this covers
- Every employee working under a contract of service, oral or written.
- Casual workers too: their pay is due at the end of each day.
- Employees hired for more than a month: pay is due at the end of each month.
Official sources (3)
- Employment Act, 2007 (No. 11 of 2007) labour.go.ke · read 2 Oct 2026
- Handling of Labour Disputes labour.go.ke · read 2 Oct 2026
- Constitution of Kenya, 2010 new.kenyalaw.org · read 2 Oct 2026