The court affirmed that redundancy is valid when substantiated by legitimate business restructuring, with employees not entitled to alternative roles unless applied for.

Syed Noh Said Nazir @ Syed Nadzir:

Introduction

[1] Thomas Hans Raab, the claimant in this proceeding is a German citizen having his residential address at Unit 81-08, Puncak Athenaeum Condo, Jalan Wangsa SA, 68000 Ampang, Selangor Darul Ehsan.

[2] Nokia Services and Network Malaysia Sdn Bhd, whose business involves in the trading and the rendering of any services related to tele-communications was the claimant's employer at all material times until his termination by way of reorganisation and transformation and by virtue of a Redundancy Agreement dated 1 March 2019, hence the claimant's challenge herein.

[3] The claimant's claim was referred to this court under s 20 of the IndustriaI Relations Act 1967 ("the IRA 1967") by way of a letter dated 24 December 2019. Hearing of this case proceeded on 23 September 2020, 24 September 2020, 6 May 2021 and 24 November 2021 with the claimant being the sole witness for his claim whereas the company produced two witnesses, ie the company's Head of Market Operation, APAC, Mr Md Sharif Uddin Mahmud (COW-1) and the company's former Human Resource Manager, Mr Zaeem Chan Hee Teek (COW-2).

Factual Matrix

[4] The following facts are not in dispute:

a. The claimant, during his employment as Head of Market Operation, reported directly to Md. Sharif Uddin Mahmud who is the Head of Market Operations, Asia North & South of Nokia Supply Chain & Procurement ("Sharif "), who also testified as the company's first witness (COW-1).

b. The claimant's last drawn basic salary was RM18,526.00 per month.

c. The claimant was also entitled to a monthly RM940.00 for special allowance, RM2,000.00 for travelling allowance and RM160.00 for parking allowances. (CLB-1, P.8)

d. The claimant's responsibilities as Head of MO includes, amongst others, as follows:

a) Accountable for all operations topics within the Market unit/ GCBT/CBT (unit);

b) Integrated partner for units CO, BGs and other stakeholders;

c) Business and people leadership of MO resources in the market aligned with Market Operations strategy;

d) Manage cost, cash and performance KPIs from plan, offer and execute to measure & improvement;

e) Capture and validate customer demand signal with unit stakeholder;

f) Identify and mitigate supply and procurement risks;

g) Order management from planning till invoicing including procurement of local services and material as well as execution of last mile distribution;

h) Provide optimised GOPS costing, delivery and procurement plans for customer offers ensuring early involvement;

i) Ensure continuous improvement and innovation of processes and tools deploy quality framework and practice improvement every day and everywhere;

j) Collaborate with stakeholders to improve customer perceived value index (CPVi) - analyse and take actions related to GOPS issues; and

k) Ensure quality, health and safety, process compliance and adherence. (CLB-1, P.9).

e. Pursuant to a Redundancy Agreement dated 1 March 2019 ("Redundancy Agreement"), it states, amongst others, that:

"Recital B

The Employee has been informed on 4 January 2019 that the company's business is undergoing global transformation. Your role as Head of Market Operations CBT Malaysia (Malaysia & Sri Lanka) is being made redundant. The company and the Employee has reached an amicable agreement to mutually end the employment relationship in reliance of the company's representation and the company has agreed with Employee to enter into this Agreement on the terms and conditions hereinafter set out." (CLB-1, P.28)

f. The claimant's last day of employment with the company is 31 May 2019.

g. During the claimant's employment with the said company, the claimant, inter-alia, held the position of Regional Operations Manager ("ROM") and Head of Market Operations.

Company's Case

The Company's Global Transformation And Reorganisation

[5] The company's business has been undergoing global transformation and reorganisation embarked as early as April 2016, to ensure that the business remains profitable, costs