“My Job Was Recently Advertised Without My Knowledge”

By Florence Mukunya,

What if you woke up on a Monday morning and found your job advertised on an online job site or even the local news papers.

Good morning, as I got to work sometimes last week a colleague alerted me that my job had been advertised and was curious as to whether I was resigning. I was very shocked as I have no intentions of resigning and my boss has not mentioned anything about it to me. What should I do? Wrote Mercy Mwikali in an email

Job security is something we worry about every waking day of our life but can an employer advertise a role before there has been a resignation?

“Before an employer declares a job position that you are still holding as vacant, they have to inform you first,” says Benson Ng’ang’a a HR officer at Bata

He adds that, employers don’t have to wait for an employee to hand over a resignation letter as it’s possible for an employer to terminate your contract as it can be terminated by either party.

Why would an employer advertise an occupied position?

Mr. Ng’ang’a reports that, “Such cases happen when the position being advertised is very important and sensitive which means that it cannot be left open at any given time.

“It’s unethical though, because it’s done behind the employees back and it’s only an advantage to the company,” he continues to say

Another reason an employer could do this is because they do not want to pay for litigation in the case of a long term contract.

“If an employee has a five years contract and they have only worked for a year, the company is supposed to pay him for the four remaining years, so if the employee is given a one month notice and they sign it, the company escapes the charges and they can then advertise the position when the employee is still holding it for the month,” states Mr. Ng’ang’a

How can I handle this situation?

“A simple advice is to speak to your boss and he will be in a position to explain the reasons. Sometimes they could be hiring an additional person into the department,” advice Mr. Ng’ang’a

He also notes that if an employer wants to fire you they should inform you in advance.

Can I apply for the post?

Mr. Ng’ang’a agrees that one can apply for the position, “Yes, seeing as you already holding the position, that makes you qualified but it does not mean you will get hired and as I said early, it could be that they are just adding another person in the department whereby you do not need to apply ”

Mr. Ng’ang’a has three pieces of advice on this, he says that, “first is to talk to your boss so as to understand the reasons behind, secondly is to start looking for a job and the third one is to go to a labor court which will obviously cost you.”

Employees should know that they have an employment act that protects them and under the termination of contract it states that, “A contract of employment may be terminated at any time by an employer who must give the employee a period of notice of termination (e.g. at close of day in case of contract for daily wages, one month or more in case of monthly pay contracts).”

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