On Friday, the Kenyan Court of Appeal delivered its verdict in the appeal case between a former employee, Clara Wanjiku Odero and Flutterwave. The court ruled in favour of Flutterwave.

The court’s decision came after Ms Odero, former Head of Implementation for the Rest of Africa at Flutterwave, filed a lawsuit accusing the company of negligence, emotional distress and reputational damage.

According to Ms Odero, since her resignation from Flutterwave in 2018, the company failed to delete her contact details from its M-Pesa Paybill account, leading to unwanted associations with fraudulent activities and numerous unwanted calls.

Ms Odera accused Flutterwave CEO Olugbenga Agboola of bullying and harassing her as an employee, which led her to quit the job.

Following her accusations, Ms Odero requested $900,000 in compensation. 

However, the lower court’s initial ruling granted her only Ksh. 250,000, which is approximately $2,500, way below what she hoped to get as compensation, leading her to appeal the decision.

In response to her accusations, Flutterwave acknowledged a delay in updating Ms Odero’s contact details and apologised, proposing to settle the matter amicably without further litigation.

However, the company denied Ms Odero’s accusation against Mr Olugbenga, stating, “As an organisation that continuously strives to create an environment where employees feel secure and safe, we take the recent allegations of bullying from a former employee very seriously. We categorically state that there is no place for bullying or harassment of any kind in our workplace.”

Justice Alexander Muasya recently ruled that the damages awarded to Ms Odero would be capped at Ksh. 250,000, as initially determined by the magistrate. 

In his September 27, 2024 ruling, Mr Muasya stated that he saw no reason to overturn the magistrate’s decision, citing a lack of evidence supporting Ms Odero’s claim of reputational damage. He deemed the awarded sum reasonable.

Mr Muasya said, “The award in damages was capped at Ksh. 250,000 by the magistrate. I do not find reason to disturb his finding, considering that there was no proof of loss of reputation. The sum was reasonable.”

The judge added that Ms Odero’s inability to provide supporting medical or independent evidence to her claims led the court to conclude that there was no causal link between Flutterwave’s negligence and any harm to her reputation.

Therefore, in its final decision, the court of appeal upheld the lower court’s ruling, awarding Ms Odero with only $2,500 in compensation, stating that the damages awarded were sufficient for the emotional distress caused by the mix-up and dismissed her appeal in favour of Flutterwave.