StanChart Bank’s former employees have won a court battle over pension payments. This is after the Court of Appeal ruled in their favour bringing the pensioners closer to receiving funds they’ve pursued for years.

The Court rejected an appeal by the bank and the trustees of the Standard Chartered Kenya Pension Fund. The two institutions challenged a High Court ruling, noting the tribunal lacked jurisdiction to resolve the dispute over unpaid benefits.

Justices Patrick Kiage, Lydia Achode and Weldon Korir of the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s decision, affirming the tribunal had the authority to handle the matter.

“We, therefore, have no difficulty finding on this issue that the learned judge did not err in rejecting the contention that the tribunal acted without jurisdiction,” the judges said.

The dispute began when StanChart Bank’s former employees took to the courts to complain that their retirement benefit scheme had underpaid them in lumpsum settlements.

The pension scheme was instructed to recalculate its benefits by the tribunal, a ruling that the bank and trustees contested in court. The pensioners argued that they were entitled to Sh9 billion as the outstanding balance of their pension benefits and accrued interest.

Additionally, they sought a refund of Sh1.1 billion, claiming that the bank had unfairly appropriated surplus funds amounting to Sh5.79 billion.

The case was eventually brought before the High Court ordering Standard Chartered to provide details of the pension payments made to 629 former employees.

The court also required the bank to clarify the actuarial methods used in determining their benefits as well as include cost-of-living adjustments, housing allowances and future salary increments in their recalculations.

The pension scheme trustees rebutted that in ordering a recalculation of benefits, the tribunal had overstepped its authority and shifted decision-making power to the parties involved in the dispute.

“Given the state of the law with regard to the powers of the Tribunal on appeal, we must conclude, with respect, that there is no substance in the complaint that the learned judge erred in not quashing the Tribunal’s judgement,” the judges said.

They emphasized that tribunals have repeatedly issued directives instructing trustees to calculate scheme benefits in compliance with legal guidelines.

“We find and hold that the orders made by the Tribunal requiring computation by the appellants as guided by its directions and requiring the Retirement Benefits Authority (RBA) to report to it compliance within 60 days were lawful orders and did not violate decisional law as laid down by the Supreme Court,” the judges said.

StanChart and the pension fund trustees attempted to postpone the tribunal’s ruling, claiming that its enforcement would lead to a steep financial liability of Sh30 billion. The court, however, was not persuaded by their argument.

Following the Court of Appeal’s ruling, pensioners are now closer to obtaining the funds they have pursued for years.

At the same time, the bank and its trustees are under increasing pressure to adhere to the tribunal’s directive and guarantee that retirees receive their rightful benefits.