Ex-manager Awarded RM810,628 for Unfair Dismissal

After almost two years of court proceedings, the Industrial Court awarded a former manager for a government agency RM810,628 after finding the organisation guilty of unfair dismissal.

According to Malay Mail, the claimant Thomas Kuruvilla who was employed at the agency from September 2007 until May 2018, was awarded about RM810,628. The agency has to pay the amount within 30 days of the award date. 

Lawyer T. M. Varughese represented Kuruvilla, while lawyers Shariffullah Majeed and Amardeep Singh Toor represented the company. Industrial Court chairman Augustine Anthony oversaw the case. 

 

How it started

The government agency was established in 1996 and now operates under the Communications and Multimedia Ministry. It was created to implement the Multimedia Super initiative and lead the growth of information and communications technology (ICT) as well as Malaysia's digital economy. 

The trial started on February 28, 2019. During its course, the employer argued that Kuruvilla's work performance started to degrade from 2015 onwards, forcing it to put him under a few performance improvement plans (PIP), which ended in 2017. 

Despite its guidance provided to the claimant to accomplish his job scope and key performance indicators, the government agency rated the former manager's performance as unacceptable with failure to make the required improvements, leading to his firing in May 2018. 

 

The claimant's statement

On Kuruvilla's part, he argued that when he started working in the agency in September 2007 in a senior managerial role, there was no report of unsatisfactory issues related to his performance. 

He stated that when a new chief executive officer took over the position in September 2014, the management subsequently transferred him to a different department in April 2015.

The then-new CEO who started heading the agency in September 2014 is formerly the general manager of HP and Dell and managing director of Microsoft Malaysia. She served for more than four years before resigning from the position in January 2019.

The claimant said that he was not a poor performer and should have never been put under the PIPs. He added that in the new department, he was: 

• Provided multiple objectives that were unrelated to his job scope,

• Made subordinate to numerous other different managers, 

• Provided limited or no guidance at all, 

• At times, he was placed in humiliating situations. 

In Kuruvilla's claim, it was the company's attempt to terminate him as an employee. In doing so, they had engaged in unfair labour practices by victimising and then dismissing him. He said the decision was tainted with bad faith and done without just cause or excuse. 

The Industrial Court awarded a former manager for a government agency RM810,628 after finding it guilty of unfair dismissal.

The Court's decision

The court proceedings continued for 23 months and concluded in early February 2022, with many similar unfair employment dismissal cases from 1981 until 2019 cited throughout. 

Finally, the Industrial Court determined that the claimant was indeed not provided enough time to complete the tasks given to him, nor was he given enough opportunity to improve, and was not given proper guidance and help during his PIPs. 

The Court also found Kuruvilla was frequently transferred in a short period of under four years after his 2014 transfer to another department. 

Moreover, the Court stated that his placement under numerous performance managers is clear proof of the agency putting him under immense pressure and creating frustration and impediments to his work performance. 

As such, the Court deemed the company's cumulative conduct not to be in aid of improving Kuruvilla's performance but driven to cause its decline instead. 

The Court ruled that the agency failed to prove on the balance of probabilities that Kuruvilla's dismissal was done with just cause or excuse.

 

The award 

The Court awarded Kuruvilla 24 months of back wages totalling RM572,208, and compensation in place of reinstatement for 10 months totalling RM238,420.