Whistleblowers won't be sacked from now on - Top Glove

 

Top Glove Corporation Bhd has hired a consulting firm after it came under the spotlight once again for firing a worker for sharing photographs proving a lack of physical distancing among factory workers, which went viral and were widely reported by media recently.

Company managing director Lee Kim Meow said the consultant had taught Top Glove the right way of dealing with a whistle-blowing incident and should a similar incident occur again, the rubber glove manufacturer will not sack the whistleblower.

"Ever since the incident occurred, we hired a consultant who taught us how to resolve the problem in a correct way," said Lee when asked if Top Glove admitted that it made a mistake by sacking worker Yubaraj Khadka.

He told Malaysiakini that Top Glove has improved its mechanism to allow whistleblowers to better channel their issues and feedback by setting up a helpline, which would be handled by the consulting firm.

This is on top of the existing internal whistle-blowing system and an external mechanism which is handled by an audit firm, he added.

With the new standard operating procedures in place, Lee said Top Glove will send the whistleblower for training so that the employee will know that there is an existing platform to channel their feedback.

"We will train the staff to use our traditional whistle-blowing channels. (They will be taught) to use the correct way to make a complaint," he said.

Yubaraj Khadka

It was reported by Reuters that Top Glove worker Yubaraj was terminated from his quality assessor role on Sept 23 after the company identified him using closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage. 

Yubaraj had taken the photographs out of concern to show workers’ rights campaigner Andy Hall what working and living conditions were like at Top Glove.

Top Glove had classified Yubaraj’s act of taking photographs “without getting any prior approval from the management” as an act of misconduct that justified his dismissal.

"We should be loyal to our company we serve," stressed Lee, adding that the employee was sacked as Top Glove viewed that he harboured malicious intent against the company.

"Sharing the images to the world without first getting to the bottom of what happened is something irresponsible," Lee said.

Meanwhile, in an interview with BFM this morning, Lee said Yubaraj was sacked after he admitted his intention to pass the photographs to someone who would then use them to discredit Top Glove.

"Back then, he did not first inform us about the problem.

"As the world's biggest glove manufacturer, it is only natural for the human rights groups and others to focus on us. If they want to drive changes in a particular industry, obviously they will look for the biggest player," Lee said.  - Mkini