22/11/2025
Employee drags Coca-Cola Beverages Zambia to court
A ZAMBIAN human resourceprofessional has taken Coca-Cola Beverages Zambia (CCBZ) to court, alleging breaches of labour rights, unfair labour practices, illegal redundancy and constructive dismissal.
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The case, filed on 2 October 2025 under reference 2025/HPIR/0792, is set for a preliminary hearing through mediation on November 24, 2025 before Judge Chanda in the High Court’s Industrial Relations Division and it has attracted media as well as civil society organisation attention.
Court filings indicate that the complainant, referred to by abbreviations of her names as PKM, joined CCBZ in December 2018 as a Learning and Development Coordinator.
She later acted in the role of HR Business Partner and was confirmed in that role in June 2019.
In February 2022, CCBZ reportedly carried out a “structural change” that downgraded her to HR Coordinator, a lower-grade position.
While her salary remained unchanged, some benefits changed.
PKM did not challenge the re-assignment at the time, which though maintained her salary but changed some benefits , because at the time the media had established that she was facing some health related issues linked to work stress.
She soldiered on in the company, kept her dedication and excellent work ethic in the company.
Coca-Cola assigned her acting roles, including Acting HR Services & Rewards Manager with a view to confirm her from April 2024, whilst receiving a 15 percent acting allowance.
According to the conditions at Coca-Cola in particular, CCBZ Employee Handbook at the time, acting appointments should not exceed six months, but PKM was made, by the company, to continue beyond that period which in this case led to automatic confirmation.
Investigations indicate that despite PKM exceeding six months of acting and getting confirmed automatically according to the conditions of service at coca-cola, she was denied formal confirmation by the company in abuse of labour rights.
Her acting allowance was discontinued by the company, even though the company made her to continue to perform managerial duties for which they did not give her a formal contract and appropriate remuneration.
In the managerial role, she was working alone as the vacancy in the unit was never filled.
Previously, before she took on the position, there were 2 people handling the tasks she was handling.
The lawsuit also focuses on the handling of her grievances.
Investigations show that her informal grievance filed in April 2025 was not acknowledged within stipulated times nor appropriately handled as stipulated by internal policies, and her formal grievance submitted in May 2025 experienced significant delays contrary to the internal Grievance policy.
Investigations further show that the company engaged an external law firm to review her complaint, contrary to internal grievance procedures.
The external reviewers reportedly upheld her grievance and recommended resolution within two months, though unfortunately, this led to further delays and prolonged resolution contrary to internal policies.
After the company realised that they needed to honour her confirmation, Investigative findings indicate that in July and August 2025, coca-cola decided to notify PKM that the managerial position had been removed as part of a restructuring, without consulting her nor following appropriate procedures as stipulated in the labour laws in Zambia.
Without her consent, Coca cola further decided to offer PKM a lower-grade role with lower conditions of service, which she declined on the basis that it amounted to unlawful redundancy, and she later resigned.
The offer made was approved by the Managing Director a Kenyan Josphat Mwangi and Human Resource Director Ms Thecra Milambo, according to court documents.
To further exhibit their malice, through the Human Resource Director, the company even wrote a memo to notify employees in August 2025 about possibility of delaying salaries following PKM's resignation whilst quoting a wrong or lower position than the one she was confirmed in, something PKM has highlighted in the court documents as inappropriate or malicious.
The notification surprised some workers considering that a big corporation like coca-cola, in terms of business continuity, was expected to be more organized and this furthers buttresses the concerning practices at the company which has also witnessed several resignations.
PKM is seeking a declaration of automatic confirmation to HR Services & Rewards Manager, compensation for constructive dismissal and unlawful redundancy, back pay for discrepancies observed , corrected pension contributions, and payment for accrued leave.
The case highlights issues around enforcement of labour laws in Zambia by Ministry of Labour and employee protections when internal grievance systems allegedly fail.
Labour Commissioner was sent a write up over the matter but then, the complainant has not been contacted nor is it clear if any action was taken.
Press queries sent to the Labour Commissioner and CEO Coca-Cola Beverages Africa have not been responded to.
Kalemba November 22, 20
