Nairobi, Sept. 8 -- Most employees expect a workplace investigation to stay at work. For Salimah Pirbhai, a former Diamond Trust Bank manager, it followed her home, bringing her family into a dispute that ultimately cost her job and raised an unusual question about the limits of an employer's reach.

Ms Pirbhai's fight over her dismissal has exposed a rare battle over how far an employer can go into an employee's private and family life during workplace-related investigations.

She alleged that senior bank officers went beyond formal disciplinary procedures, summoned her brother and used family pressure during an investigation into suspected irregular transactions at the lender's Parklands branch.

However, the Employment and Labour Relat...