AWARD

The parties in this case are Ooi Hock Huat (hereinafter referred to as "claimant") and Nova Charm Sdn Bhd (hereinafter referred to as "the company") on the 14 October 1998. The claimant contends that he was employed by the company as its van driver cum deliveryman on 1 February 1997 and was summarily dismissed without just cause or excuse on 4 October 1998. The company contends that the claimant was never employed as a workman or that there was a dismissal of a workman within the meaning of the Industrial Relations Act 1967. In the alternative, the company contends that if the claimant was a workman and had been dismissed, the said dismissal was with just cause or excuse. The burden of proof on the first issue and second issue lies with the claimant and the company respectively.

Section 2 of the Industrial Relations Act 1967 defines "workman" as "any person, including an apprentice employed by an employer under a contract of employment to work for hire or reward, and for the purpose of any proceedings in relation to a trade dispute includes any such person who has been dismissed, discharged or retrenched in connection with or as a consequence of that dispute or whose dismissal,