Constructive dismissal occurs when an employer breaches fundamental contract terms, resulting in an employee's decision to resign, which must be proven by the employee, alongside the employer's failure to address grievances.

AWARD

Augustine Anthony:

[1] Pursuant to the directions of this Court, the parties in this matter filed their respective submissions dated 28 June 2022 (claimant's written submissions), 19 July 2022 (company's written submissions), 2 August 2022 (claimant's written submissions in reply) and 5 August 2022 (company's submissions in reply).

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

(i) The claimant's Statement of Case dated 14 October 2019;

(ii) The company's Statement In Reply dated 24 October 2019;

(iii) The claimant's Rejoinder dated 16 December 2019;

(iv) The claimant's Bundle of Documents - CLB 1, CLB 2, CLB 3, CL 4 (a) & CL 4(b);

(v) The company's Bundle of Documents - COB

(vi) The claimant's Witness Statement - CLW - WS (1) & CLW - WS (2) with translation in Bahasa Melayu;

(vii) Company's Witness Statement - COW1- WS (Tan Yoke Mit @ Tan Yoke Poo);

(viii) Company's Witness Statement - COW2 - WS (Retnam Raju)

Introduction

[3] The dispute before this Court is the claim by Jegathisvararau a/l Ramachandran ("claimant") that he had been dismissed by way of a constructive dismissal from his employment without just cause or excuse by Sem Siong Industries Sdn Bhd ("company") on the 3 December 2018.

[4] The claimant joined the company as a Senior Security Officer/Grade 01 with effect from 1 April 2014. There is no dispute that the claimant was a confirmed employee of the company. The claimant states that his last drawn wages which includes overtime was RM3,945.52 but this is disputed by the company which maintains that the claimant's last drawn wages was RM2,580.00 only. The claimant states that he was subjected to numerous unacceptable treatments by the company including directing him to do work unrelated to his original employment contract and transfer in workplaces. Further, the claimant was made to endure the use of abusive and vulgar words by his superior that had caused him mental stress and loss of personal self-worth. On the 13 September 2018, the claimant wrote to the company to remedy the unacceptable treatment given to him, and also to restore him to his original work in line with his contract of employment. The company responded to the claimant's letter dated 13 September 2018 with its letter dated 18 October 2018 with a stern warning directing the claimant to improve his performance. The claimant was then further subjected to other work which the claimant claims was an act of downgrading his job scope and an exploitation of the claimant in his employment which had caused the claimant to leave the company by an exit notice dated 3 December 2018. The claimant now claims that he was dismissed by way of a constructive dismissal without just cause or excuse by the company and prays that the he be reinstated to his for position in the company without any loss of seniority or wages. The company however denies that the claimant was dismissed and maintains that the claimant had left the company abruptly on the 3 December 2018 as he was no longer interested to work for the company. The company states that despite the claimant leaving the company abruptly, the company had sent the claimant a letter subsequently directing the claimant to report back to work but the claimant had failed to do so. The company also states that the claimant had committed numerous misconducts and that his work performance was unsatisfactory. In the circumstances, the company maintains that it had not dismissed the claimant but the claimant had abandoned his employment with the company and as such prays that the claimant's case be dismissed.

[5] The claimant gave evidence under oath and remained the sole witness for his case. The company's evidence was adduced through COW1 (Tan Yoke Mit @ Tan Yoke Poo who was the Acting Head of Security for the company and who was responsible for the overall security team of the company) and COW2 (Retnam Raju who is the Senior Assistant Securi