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More than 850 former employees of Koidu Limited have filed a class action lawsuit in the High Court of Sierra Leone, seeking $36.9 million in alleged unpaid wages in a case that highlights the challenges of dollar-denominated contracts in Sierra Leone’s volatile currency environment.
The claim centers on a dispute over exchange rate calculations. Lead counsel Janisa E.F. Momodu told Justice Tonya Barnett that workers who were contracted in US dollars were paid in local currency using a rate far below the official Bank of Sierra Leone figure.
According to court documents, payslips for February and March 2025 showed workers received only 16,726 New Leones monthly—approximately 30 percent of what they should have earned. Momodu argued that using the official Bank of Sierra Leone exchange rate of 22.66 Leones to the dollar in 2025, the correct monthly salary should have been approximately NLe 58,281.52 .
The plaintiffs claim the underpayment pattern stretched from 2019 through 2025, with deficits accumulating across the workforce. The company allegedly relied on an undisclosed side agreement to justify the shortfall—a justification Momodu challenged by citing UK House of Lords precedent that employers cannot unilaterally reduce contractual wages without consent.
Momodu also referenced Section 54 of Sierra Leone’s Employment Act 2023, which mandates that workers receive wages without wrongful deductions. “The plaintiffs submit that the defendant has been unjustly enriched by years of underpayment, retaining wages that rightfully belong to the workers,” she told the court .
The legal action follows a turbulent period for the Kono District diamond operator. Workers initiated strikes in December 2024 over salary structures, with the company later suspending operations and dismissing over 1,000 employees. Industry sources estimate Koidu’s annual exports at approximately $100 million, making the $36.9 million claim a significant contingent liability if the court accepts the plaintiffs’ exchange rate methodology.
Union officials had previously raised concerns that workers were receiving only about 30 percent of the value of their salaries because wages pegged to the US dollar were being paid using an exchange rate from 2016.
Defence counsel Drucil Taylor requested time to review case files and signalled intent to file a counter-summons against all plaintiffs.
Justice Barnett adjourned proceedings to March 18, 2026, when the court will determine how to structure a case involving hundreds of claimants against one of Sierra Leone’s largest foreign investors.
Beyond wages, the claim includes demands for NASSIT contributions, interest, and damages for breach of contract.
