Riot: Ex-MAS workers' case not pursued because airline 'no longer in existence'

The 3,600 cases involving former Malaysia Airlines Systems (MAS) Berhad cannot be referred to the Industrial Court because the airline is "no longer in existence", said Human Resources Minister Richard Riot today.

"If the company has gone bankrupt or has wound up, we can't go after the company.

"And by law, we can't go after the individuals (responsible for the retrenchment) either," said Riot when asked to elaborate on his previous remarks on the matter, at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur today.

Riot had previously declined to offer reasons for why his ministry will not be referring the cases to the Industrial Court.

This was after the National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (Nufam) asked why there is yet to be any action on the cases referred to the ministry by retrenched staff.

MAS was rebranded as Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB) in 2015, after it was delisted, and its operations were taken over by the government's sovereign wealth fund, Khazanah Nasional Bhd.

As part of its rescue plan for the national carrier, Khazanah retrenched 6,000 workers - half of whom were cabin crew, who took up their cases to the ministry through Nufam.

The Malaysian Airline System Berhad (Administration) Act 2015 was passed in Parliament to facilitate the terminations.

According to Riot, his ministry and the Department of Industrial Relations director (Khalid Ali) had issued letters with a full explanation on the matter, to 1,500 of the 3,600 people who had sought remedy.

Khalid, who was also present at the press conference, explained that it took two years to put a rest to the issue as the department could only act after the moratorium, which barred any legal action from being taken against MAS was instituted with the passing of the Act, was only lifted on May 24 this year.

The moratorium was put in place to allow MAB to replace MAS as the national carrier, as well as to provide for an effective, efficient and seamless means to transition the business, property, rights, liabilities and affairs of MAS to MAB.- Mkini