2023 MarsdenLR 327
INDUSTRIAL COURT MALAYSIA
Saiful Khairi Bin Mohd Shamsuri – Appellant
Versus
LENDLEASE PROJECTS (M) SDN. BHD. – Respondent
22/4-1153/22
IN THE INDUSTRIAL COURT OF MALAYSIA CASE NO.: 22/4-1153/22 BETWEEN SAIFUL KHAIRI BIN MOHD SHAMSURI AND LENDLEASE PROJECTS (M) SDN. BHD.
AWARD NO. 2244 OF 2023 BEFORE : Y.A. TUAN PARAMALINGAM A/L J. DORAISAMY VENUE : Industrial Court of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur DATE OF REFERENCE : 13.07.2022 DATES OF MENTION : 23.08.2022; 20.10.2022 & 20.03.2023 DATE OF HEARING : 19.04.2023 & 09.06.2023 REPRESENTATION : Pn. Gelly Binti Saring Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC)
Representative for the Claimant Ms. Lee Sze Ching Messrs. Gan Partnership Counsel for the Company REFERENCE :
This is a reference made under Section 20 (3) of the Industrial Relations Act 1967 (Act 177), arising out of the dismissal of Saiful Khairi Bin Mohd Shamsuri (hereinafter referred to as “the Claimant”) by Lendlease Projects (M) Sdn. Bhd. (hereinafter referred to as “the Company”) on 15 October 2021.
AWARD [1] The reference by the Director General of Industrial Relations (DGIR) in this case required the Court to hear and determine the Claimant’s complaint of dismissal by the Company on 15 October 2021.
I. PROCEDURAL HISTORY [2] The Court received the letter pertaining to the DGIR reference under Section
20(3) of the Industrial Relations Act 1967 on 15 July 2022.
[3] The matter was fixed for mention on 23 August 2022, 20 October 2022 and 20 March 2023.
[4] The trial commenced on 19 April 2023 and concluded on 9 June 2023.
II. Factual Background [5] The Claimant commenced his employment with the Company as a Site Supervisor (Site Construction IV-DPP41308) on 22 January 2019. His last drawn salary was RM5,160.00.
[6] The Claimant contends that throughout his employment with the Company, he was never informed of his job scope and functions. His Job Description as well as instructions pertaining to work were informed to him verbally by the Company’s management from time to time and he had never received a detailed written Job Description. The Claimant would also send his work reports daily vide video calls as instructed by the Company’s management from time to time. The Claimant was also not informed of the evaluation of his job performance during his work tenure with the Company.
[7] As a Night Shift Site Supervisor, the Claimant was required, inter alia, to:-
i. contribute to routine and complex construction activities; and ii. apply construction and/or trade skills to contribute to construction projects and effective daily operations of a construction site.
[8] The Company denies that the Claimant was not informed and/or not awar5e of any performance review guidelines. The Company has in place guidelines, processes and/or procedures relating to the performance review process which are made available on the Company intranet.
[9] The Claimant is fully aware of his job responsibilities and functions or alternatively, he ought to be aware of his job responsibilities and functions when he accepted the offer and/or commenced employment with the Company. Furthermore, the Claimant’s previous colleagues, supervisors and/or direct line managers had regular catch-ups with the Claimant to check on him. In any event, the information pertaining to the job description and responsibility for each position in the Company is available on the Company’s platform.
[10] With regards to the Claimant’s yearly performance review, the Company contends that:-
i. for financial year 2019, the Claimant received “On Track”
performance rating;
ii. however for financial year 2020, i.e. from 1 July 2019 to 30 June
2020, the Claimant received “Behind Track” performance rating;
iii. for financial year 2021, i.e. 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021, the Claimant again received “Behind Track” performance rating. The Company found that, amongst others, the Claimant needed to work on communicating with and contributing more to the team, participating in activities as well as listening to directions from his own team and managers.
[11] Besides the performance reviews, the Company also had a discussion with the Claimant on 13 August