IN THE INDUSTRIAL COURT OF MALAYSIA CASE NO. : 11(19)/4-1967/19 BETWEEN MOHAMAD AZLAN BIN MOHAMAD NOOR AND RAWANG SPECIALIST HOSPITAL SDN. BHD.

AWARD NO.: 2047 OF 2022 Before : Y.A. TUAN ANDERSEN ONG WAI LEONG - CHAIRMAN (Sitting Alone)

Venue : Industrial Court of Malaysia at Kuala Lumpur Date of Reference : 26.09.2019 Date(s) of Mention : 06.11.2019, 23.12.2019, 16.01.2020, 17.02.2020, 17.05.2022 & 14.06.2022.

Date(s) of Hearing : 08.10.2020, 09.10.2020, 07.01.2022, 11.02.2022 & 18.03.2022.

Written Submission (Claimant) : 26.04.2022 & 15.06.2022.

Written Submission (Company) : 15.04.2022 & 02.06.2022.

Representation : Claimant – Unrepresented.

Ms. Prema Kesavan of Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF), representative for the Company A. REFERENCE [ 1 ] This is a reference from The Honourable Minister of Human Resources, Malaysia to the Industrial Court of Malaysia under Section 20(3) of the Industrial Relations Act 1967 (“the IRA”) in respect of the dismissal of Mohamad Azlan Bin Mohamad Noor (“the Claimant”) by his employer, Rawang Specialist Hospital Sdn. Bhd. (“the Company”) on

14.05.2019.

[ 2 ] Together with the Claimant, there were two (2) other claimants who were jointly referred under the same reference by The Honourable Minister to the Industrial Court namely one Shahrul Nizam Bin Mohammad (“Shahrul”) and Muhammad Hakimi Bin Hasimon (“Hakimi”). They were also employees of the Company and dismissed by the Company on

14.05.2019 for similar reasons.

[ 3 ] Notwithstanding all the above named claimants were jointly referred to the Industrial Court under the same reference by The Honourable Minister, they were assigned with different suit / case numbers and regarded as separate individual cases in the Industrial Court as follows:

(a) Case No.: 11(19)/4-1965/19 - Shahrul Nizam Bin Mohammad (b) Case No.: 11(19)/4-1966/19 - Muhammad Hakimi Bin Hasimon (c) Case No.: 11(19)/4-1967/19 - Mohamad Azlan Bin Mohamad Noor [ 4 ] When the cases were called up for hearing, parties had request for their cases to be heard together. For expediency’s sake, the Court had agreed for all the three (3) cases to be heard together since the facts are identical and the issues to be tried are also similar. However, the Court shall hand down separate awards for all the cases.

B. BACKGROUND [ 5 ] The name of the Company speaks for itself. The Company is in the business of providing medical and healthcare services. The Company is owned by KPJ Healthcare Berhad (“the KPJ Group”).

[ 6 ] The Claimant commenced employment with the Company on 16.01.2017 as a Marketing Officer. He was subsequently transferred to the Business Office and re-designated as a Credit Control Assistant, effective from 01.11.2017. The Claimant had held the position of Credit Control Assistant, same as that of Shahrul until he was dismissed by the Company. [ 7 ] Like Shahrul, the Claimant’s responsibilities included inter alia ensuring all invoices were sent to the debtors according to the Company’s terms and conditions, account being managed properly and debts owing to the Company being collected within the credit terms approved by the Company.

[ 8 ] The Claimant was also expected to travel and visit the Company’s clients on his motorbike and car to inform them of their outstanding payments owing to the Company from time to time.

[ 9 ] As such, the Company had at the request of the Claimant, agreed to make cash advancement to the Claimant toward payment of his travelling expenses. The Claimant had from time to time requested for cash advances for his travelling expenses and the Company had granted him the same. It was agreed that the Claimant shall offset the cash advances taken by him from the Company against his mileage claims.

[ 10 ] For the period between December 2017 to December 2018, the Claimant had requested and the Company had granted him cash advances of RM300.00 every month toward payments of his travelling expenses. The total cash advances taken by the Claimant for this entire period was