AWARD

Augustine Anthony:

The Reference

[1] This is a reference dated 14 August 2023 by the Director General of the Department of Industrial Relations, Ministry of Human Resources, pursuant to s 20(3) of the Industrial Relations Act 1967 (the Act) arising out of the dismissal of Krishnan a/l Arumugam (claimant) by MEMC Electronic Materials Sdn Bhd (company) on 24 March 2023.

[2] Pursuant to the directions of this court, the parties in this matter filed their respective submissions dated 24 April 2025 (Company's written submissions), 2 May 2025 (claimant's written submissions), 16 May 2025 (Company's written submissions in reply) and 17 May 2025 (claimant's written submissions in reply).

[3] This court considered all the notes of proceedings in this matter, documents and cause papers in handing down this Award, namely:

(i) The Claimant's Statement of Case dated 30 October 2023;

(ii) The Company's Statement in Reply dated 21 November 2023;

(iii) The Claimant's Rejoinder dated 10 January 2024;

(iv) The Claimant's Bundles of Documents — CLB1, CLB 2 and CLB 3;

(v) The Company's Bundles of Documents — COB1, COB 2 and COB3;

(vi) The Claimant's Witness Statement — CLW-WS (Krishnan a/l Arumugam);

(vii) The Company's Witness Statement — COW1-WS (Miss Sandra Was Nget Moi)

(viii) The Company's Witness Statement — COW2-WS (Miss Vijaya Kumari a/p Subramaniam)

(ix) The Company's Witness Statement — COW3-WS (Miss Khoo Sook Yee)

(x) The Company's Witness Statement — COW4-WS (Encik Mohd Rahimi bin Ghazali)

(xi) The Company's Witness Statement — COW5-WS (Encik Masri bin Supian)

(xii) The Company's Witness Statement — COW6-WS (Mr Oh Lock Ben)

(xiii) The Company's Witness Statement — COW7-WS (Encik Mustakim bin Md Ghazali)

(xiv) The Company's Witness Statement — COW8-WS (Puan Azmira bt Mohd Tajul Ariffin)

(xv) The Company's Witness Statement — COW9-WS (Encik Mohd Ridzuwan bin Mat Zin)

(xvi) The Company's Witness Statement — COW10 (Cik Nur Alyanie bt Ab Kadir)

(xvii) The Company's Witness Statement — COW11-WS (Encik Yogeswaran a/l Benjamin)

Introduction

[4] The dispute before this court relates to the claim by Krishnan a/l Arumugam ("Claimant") that he was dismissed from his employment without just cause or excuse by MEMC Electronic Materials Sdn Bhd ("the Company") on 24 March 2023.

[5] The claimant commenced employment with the company as a Maintenance Technician on 3 March 2014 and was confirmed in his employment on 3 June 2014. The claimant's last drawn salary was RM3,459.00 per month. The claimant maintained a good employment record and had no disciplinary or misconduct issues throughout his service until April 2022. On or about April 2022, the claimant became unwell and fainted on several occasions at his workplace and claimed that he did not receive any help from the Emergency Response Team of the company. He was thereafter admitted to the hospital for his illness and fever due to dengue and during this time learnt that his superiors were planning to terminate his services, which resulted in the claimant lodging a grievance report to the Human Resources department of the company, which according to him, did not view his complaint seriously. The claimant then approached the Labour Department of the Ministry of Human Resources to seek advice.

[6] Soon relationship between the claimant and the co-workers, including his seniors deteriorated, resulting in the company issuing the claimant a show cause letter that culminated in the claimant being charged and found guilty of the misconduct of disrespect and insubordination on 30 December 2022. On 17 February 2023, the claimant was given a stern warning, downgraded/demoted, and his salary was reduced to RM3,000.00 per month, effective 1 February 2023, instead of his usual salary of RM3,459.00 per month. The unhappy claimant protested. On the same day of 17 February 2023, the company again issued a notice to show cause against the claimant for 3 alleged misconducts, namely of falsification of information, negligence and insubor