Termination by mutual agreement does not necessitate proving redundancy when the employee consents freely and voluntarily.

[1] This is a reference from The Honourable Minister of Human Resources, Malaysia to the Industrial Court of Malaysia pursuant to s 20(3) of the Industrial Relations Act 1967 (hereinafter referred to as "the IRA ") in respect of the dismissal of Chandra Ganthan a/l Krishnan (hereinafter referred to as "the Claimant") by her employer, Belum Rainforest Management Sdn Bhd (hereinafter referred to as "the Company") effective 27 December 2020.

[2] This Court has considered the following cause papers and documents in handing down this Award, namely:

(a) the Claimant's Statement of Case dated 1 November 2021;

(b) the Company's Statement In Reply dated 19 January 2022;

(c) the Claimant's Rejoinder dated 4 February 2022;

(d) the Claimant's witness statement (Chandra Ganthan a/l Krishnan) marked as "CLWS-1";

(e) the Company's Witness Statement (Aida Yuhana binti Zainul Ariff) marked as "COWS-1";

(f) the Company's Witness Statement (Aida Yuhana binti Zainul Ariff) marked as "COWS-1A";

(g) the Claimant's Bundle of Documents marked as "CLB-1";

(h) the Claimant's Persetujuan Secara Sukarela Untuk Mengambil Cuti Tanpa Gaji dated 6 May 2020 marked as "exhibit P1";

(i) the Company's Bundle of Document marked as "COB-1";

(j) the Company's Additional Bundle of Document marked as "COB-2";

(k) the Company's Pemberitahuan Pemberhentian Kerja marked as "COB-3"; and

(l) the Company's AdditionalBundle of Document(2) marked as "COB-4".

Brief Facts Of The Case

[3] The Company is a company incorporated in Malaysia that runs the operation and business of the Belum Rainforest Resort (hereinafter referred to as "the Resort") located at Pulau Banding, 33200 Gerik, Perak.

[4] On 1 May 2019, the Claimant joined the Resort as a Front Office Manager vide letter dated 15 April 2019 (hereinafter referred to as "the Letter of Appointment") and received a basic salary of RM6,200.00 per month. By way of a letter dated 20 November 2019 (hereinafter referred to as "the Letter of Confirmation"), the Claimant was confirmed in his employment with the Resort effective 21 November 2019.

[5] Pursuant to an email dated 21 October 2020, the Claimant was offered to vacate his position as the Front Office Manager with effect from 31 October 2020 through a Mutual Termination Agreement (hereinafter referred to as "the MTA") wherein an amount of RM14,235.00 was offered to be paid as the agreed settlement sum being a one month's salary on an ex-gratia basis based on his last drawn salary and allowance, one month's salary in lieu of notice and annual leave buyout of nine days calculated up to 31 May 2020. On 18 December 2020, the Claimant signed to accept the MTA and the said amount of RM14,235.00 was received by him on 23 February 2021.

The Claimant's Case

[6] In his Statement of Case, the Claimant avers that his main job function as the Front Office Manager of the Resort was to oversee the Front Office which includes managing the human resource and financial aspects of the said Office.

[7] As regards his dismissal, the Claimant avers the following events to have taken place:

(a) on 17 March 2020, the Resort's operations were closed down as a result of the Government's implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) due to the COVID-19 pandemic but the Company had chosen 10 employees including the Claimant to stay and work at the Resort;

(b) on 17 March 2020 until 16 May 2020, the Claimant was working at the Resort during which he was not allowed to take any leave;

(c) on 6 May 2020, the Claimant attended the Company's Town Hall Meeting during which he was informed that the MCO had affected the business operations of the Resort and some employees would be required to take unpaid leave