Kenya’s Business Laws (Amendment) Bill 2024 is facing a legal challenge after 35 technology workers filed a petition claiming it gives foreign firms immunity from prosecution over labour and human rights abuses.

The petition, supported by advocacy group Oversight Lab, accuses the Senate of excluding the public when pushing the legislation through.

The workers say they were denied a platform to present their concerns.

Oversight Lab, in a statement, explained that their exclusion from the legislative process was deliberate.

"The Senate failed to carry out public participation and locked the workers out of the legislative process by denying them an audience to share their concerns on the Bill.

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According to the workers, the Bill was drafted in reaction to a lawsuit against Meta Platforms Inc and its local partner Sama, both accused of mistreating content moderators in Nairobi. They argued that the President himself linked the legislation to the case.

"On December 9, 2024, the President, in a public address, announced how, after the filing of the lawsuit against Meta and their local agent, Sama begged him to protect them from the lawsuit," the workers said.

"As a result, he informed them that he would change the laws to make sure they would never be sued for any reason whatsoever in Kenya."

Three labour leaders are fronting the court case: Joan Kinyua of the Data Labellers Association of Kenya, Wycliffe Alutalala of the Digital Taxi Workers Association, and Naftali Wambalo, a former content moderator.

They warned that should Parliament proceed to endorse the Bill, it will face further legal hurdles.

"Ours is to now caution both houses of Parliament - and in particular the National Assembly - against receiving and acting on the tainted Bill given the irredeemably flawed process at the Senate," Kinyua cautioned.

Alutalala added that the content of the Bill itself places workers at risk while serving foreign interests.

"The Bill seeks to legalise the violation of workers' rights while protecting foreign commercial and political interests," Alitala explained.

The petitioners further warned that such protection would allow multinational firms to escape liability even in cases of underpayment, discrimination, or direct harm to employees.

They want the courts to halt the Bill before it moves to the National Assembly, warning that its passage would permanently weaken Kenya’s labour rights framework.