Former Sheraton hotel employee seeks Shs120m in compensation

Mr Martin Isiret, the petitioner, at Monitor offices in Namuwongo, Kampala, on Monday. Photo by Alex Esagala

A former Sheraton Kampala Hotel employee has petitioned Mengo Magistrate’s Court seeking Shs120m in compensation for contracting Parkinson’s disease while still working at the place.

Parkinson’s disease is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. As the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms become more common.

Symptoms include relentless shaking, rigidity, slowness of movement and difficulty with walking.

In a suit filed before the court in January last year, Mr Martin Isiret, 50, who started working at the hotel in 2007, said the hotel doctor advised him to seek medical attention from an advanced hospital when he started feeling unwell.

Subsequently, he proceeded to Nsambya hospital where he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

Mr Isiret continued working at the hotel but when the disease worsened, the doctor advised him to quit work.
On December 6, 2016, he resigned, and was paid Shs9m in terminal benefits on May 22, 2017.

However, the plaintiff accuses the hotel management of deliberately refusing to compensate him even after the Kampala Capital City Authority Labour Court ruled that he should be compensated.

Mr Isiret said the court made a computation and directed the hotel to pay him Shs65m.
However, he also claims that Sheraton should add him Shs55m for contracting the disease.

Mr Isiret contends he contracted the disease while working in the housekeeping department where he was exposed to chemicals.
The suit further states that Mr Isiret contracted the disease due to negligence of the hotel management.

Lawyers allege that the hotel failed to provide Mr Isiret with protective gear and adequate medical care.

However, Ms Alice Mambo, the hotel’s director of human resource, in a witness statement presented to court, a copy which Daily Monitor has seen, stated that whereas they may empathise with Mr Isiret’s medical condition, it does not arise from any exposure to chemicals during his work.
Ms Mambo also claimed that they offered Shs2.6m as compensation to the plaintiff and Shs2m for his medication, but he rejected it.

“The defendant does not deny that the statutory obligation to compensate employees for occupation illness or any similar incident/disease lies on the employer. The defendant, however, denies being liable to the plaintiff in the sums prayed for in the plaint,” she stated.
However, Mr Isiret said the offer was too little compared to the gravity of the disease.

Mr David Ongerepi, the plaintiff’s brother, who accompanied him to Daily Monitor offices in Namuwongo, Kampala, on Monday said he spends at least Shs5,000 daily on medication.

“I sent his wife and children to the village in Pallisa District because I could not afford taking care of all of them. Sadly, his children have dropped out of school because the sole breadwinner is permanently paralysed with no hope of recovery. If Sheraton pays him that money, it can at least make some difference,” he said.

Mr Ongerepi said the case has been set for hearing next month.