Court awards over RM500k to MBI Kedah ex-employee in dismissal case

 

The Penang Industrial Court has awarded a former senior human resource (HR) manager of Menteri Besar Kedah Incorporated (MBI Kedah) over half a million ringgit in a constructive dismissal case.

MBI Kedah was ordered to pay RM519,006 to Sandra Riffa Abdul Hamid, according to the ruling dated Feb 22.

State industrial court chairperson A Jeyaseelan ruled that Sandra succeeded in proving MBI Kedah constructively dismissed her without just cause and excuse on Aug 31, 2021.

Constructive dismissal is when an employee is forced to resign due to a hostile work environment created by their employer, which effectively makes it a termination.

Jeyaseelan said Sandra also succeeded in proving that MBI Kedah committed a breach of employment contract.

According to the court ruling, Sandra - who began employment with MBI Kedah as an HR manager in February 2013 - claimed she suddenly received a transfer letter dated Aug 12, 2021, for her to report to Paka Utama Holdings Sdn Bhd.

Paka Utama Holdings is a fully-owned subsidiary of MBI Kedah.

Through her industrial case filed on Sept 26, 2022, Sandra claimed she was not told her position and/or duties at Paka Utama Holdings, noting that the subsidiary company already had an HR officer.

She claimed Paka Utama Holdings had not been operational since a year prior (before 2022) and the company was located 100km in the interior.

She contended that as MBI Kedah’s then-senior HR manager, she attended several meetings which recommended Paka Utama Holdings be closed down or be self-managed without reliance on MBI Kedah.

Sandra said when she reported to Paka Utama Holdings at 9am on Aug 15, 2021, she found the subsidiary company was closed and non-operational. Its doors were also locked.

She claimed another HR officer told her the latter did not receive any notice about her transfer there.

Failure to respond to letters

Sandra said she wrote to MBI Kedah that same day to seek an explanation for her transfer to Paka Utama Holdings which was not operational and without being informed of her duties.

She claimed she gave MBI Kedah an opportunity to reinstate her in her previous position.

She said she wrote another letter on Aug 23, 2021 to give the state-owned entity until Aug 31 of that same year to do so, with her informing them she would raise the issue of constructive dismissal if they failed to resolve the matter.

Sandra claimed MBI Kedah failed to respond to her letters.

During the four-day hearing of the industrial court case from May 22, 2023 to July 5, 2023, MBI Kedah denied she was subjected to constructive dismissal, contending that as a senior HR manager, she should have the knowledge and awareness of her duties at Paka Utama Holdings as well as be ready to be transferred to a rural area.

MBI Kedah further contended that the proposed transfer of Paka Utama Holdings out from the state GLC was merely in the discussion stage and that no decision was reached over the matter.

The industrial court awarded Sandra monetary compensation instead of job reinstatement as her previous position had been assigned to somebody else. - Mkini