Pusparani a/p P. Balasingam v Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd
(Industrial Court Award No. 498 of 2021)
The Industrial Court held that an employee must accord sufficient time and opportunity to her employer in order that both parties can iron out any disagreements and reservations without causing disharmony in the Company.
The Claimant in this case was a senior personnel who had been reinstated to her original position of Legal Manager in the Company vide a Consent Memorandum at the Industrial Relations Department following her first constructive dismissal claim.
Barely two weeks after her return to work, the Claimant had alleged that she was constructively dismissed for the second time due to grievances in respect of, amongst others, the job objectives assigned to her.
In dismissing the Claimant’s claim for constructive dismissal, the Court held, inter alia, as follows:
The Claimant had failed to give sufficient time and opportunity for the Company to respond to the issues she had raised and had acted in an exceedingly hasty manner in treating herself as constructively dismissed;
The Claimant’s concerns vis-à-vis the job objectives assigned to her did not entail a fundamental breach of her contract. In any case, the Court recognised that job objectives are not cast in stone and the same will invariably change as the Company progresses.
The takeaway from this case is no one should act in haste.
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The Company was represented by our Dato’ Thavalingam C. Thavarajah and Rebecca Sonali Alfred of T. Thavalingam & Co.