Sacked Employee Entitled to Full Back Wages After Unfair Dismissal & Reinstatement

The Industrial Court ordered that a dismissed employee asked to return to work is entitled to full wages for the period he was out of the job.

The chairman of the Industrial Court Bernard John Kanny told that the Second Schedule of the Industrial Court Act 1967, which restricted wages to 24 months or 2 years, was not applicable when a reinstatement was ruled.

Kanny said, “It must be remembered that reinstatement is the primary remedy for dismissal without a just cause. In such circumstances, reinstatement being the normal rule, it shall be followed with full back wages.” However, if a worker is terminated without a just cause but is not reinstated, they are to be awarded compensation to a maximum of 24 months. 

Earlier, Kanny awarded in favour of an employee against his company. He had ordered a compensation of RM870,408 to be paid to Leong Chee Kong, who used to be the company’s chief financial officer as full back wages.

In 2018, Kanny ordered that Leong’s termination was unfair and ordered a reinstatement effective 1 Oct 2018, with the employer to pay full back wages for the duration he was out of employment. Leong was sacked for misconduct on 22 Jan 2014 and was out of work for 58 months until the Industrial court made a ruling.

However, Leong and the employer disagreed on the payment amount, which resulted in a garden leave (the practice whereby an employee who is leaving a job is instructed to stay away from work during the notice period, while still remaining on the payroll) for Leong.

After that, he filed an application for interpretation under Section 33 (1) of the Industrial Court Act 1967 and the case was heard on 14 Feb 2019. You can read more about the case here.

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Source: Free Malaysia Today

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