August 24, 2023
A Kenyan court has ordered Meta and the content moderators who are suing it for unfair dismissal to pursue an out-of-court settlement through mediation.
The 184 content moderators say they lost their jobs with Sama, one of Meta’s subcontractors, for organizing a union. They also say they were then blacklisted from applying for the same roles at the second firm, Luxembourg-based Majorel, after Meta switched contractors.
The mediation will be led by Kenya’s former chief justice, Willy Mutunga, and Hellen Apiyo, the acting commissioner for labour. If the parties fail to reach a settlement within 21 days, the case will proceed before the court.
Meta has also been sued in Kenya by a former moderator over accusations of poor working conditions at Sama. The company has said that it requires its partners to provide industry-leading conditions.
The court order instructs both parties to engage in out-of-court negotiations through mediation. This directive stems from the moderators’ claims of unfair dismissal against Meta and its subcontractors, Sama and Majorel. Allegedly, the moderators were let go by Sama for attempting to establish a union, and subsequently, they faced exclusion from job opportunities at Majorel following Facebook’s change of contractors.
The sources for this piece include an article in Reuters.
