Ex-Inti operations director awarded RM300,000 for wrongful dismissal

Industrial Court chairman Salahudin Hidayat Shariff said Inti International Education Sdn Bhd did not offer Ooi Lay Khuan any form of retraining or redeployment to another department. (File pic)

KUALA LUMPUR: The Industrial Court has awarded a former executive of a private university about RM300,000 in compensation for wrongful dismissal.

Court chairman Salahudin Hidayat Shariff said Inti International Education Sdn Bhd’s retrenchment of Ooi Lay Khuan on grounds of redundancy was not proper, as the employee was not offered any form of retraining or redeployment to another department.

Salahudin said the employer also did not furnish any evidence to show it had assisted Ooi in obtaining alternative employment outside of the company.

He also said a witness for the company testified that Inti did not have any intention to offer any form of voluntary retrenchment and retirement schemes.

Salahudin said the very least the company could have done was to ease the burden of retrenchment for a loyal employee with long service under her belt.

“This court finds that the claimant (Ooi) was dismissed without just cause because the company has failed to prove that there was a redundancy that justified the retrenchment,” he said in his 18-page decision.

Salahudin said reinstatement may not be possible due in the circumstances of the case.

“It would be rather difficult for the claimant to return to the company, given the situation of the case being dragged into trial,” he said.

He ordered back wages amounting to RM211,716.00 and another RM98,649.07 in compensation instead of reinstatement.

Ooi was the director of operations of the Traditional Chinese Medicine School under the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences just before the retrenchment.

She had worked for the company for 13 years, starting off as a project manager in 2007.

The court was told that on being notified of her retrenchment, Ooi was put on garden leave for one month and her retrenchment was made effective on April 30, 2021.

She was offered compensation in place of notice for only two months, which were the remainder of the term of her employment contract.

Leonard Yeoh and Pua Jun Wen represented Ooi while Tan Mei Fang and Jasmine Goh appeared for Inti.