KUALA LUMPUR | The Industrial Court of Malaysia has granted a sum of RM1.13 million to be paid to a former employee of Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) for wrongful dismissal.
In a court ruling sighted by theedgemarkets.com today, Norain Redzkiah Osman Salleh was dismissed from Petronas in December 2017 due to an alleged lack of improvement after the claimant was put on a ‘Performance Improvement Plan’ (PIP) for six months.
Norain joined Petronas in 1993, serving the company for 24 years until the date of her dismissal in December 2017.
She was not able to find employment since then, the ruling read.
She claimed her dismissal from employment was without just cause or excuse, and sought reinstatement to her former position without any loss of wages, allowance, seniority and privileges.
The court judge ruled that Norain as claimant was dismissed without just cause or excuse. Considering all the facts of the case, the court added that reinstating Norain to her former position in Petronas is “not a suitable remedy in this case considering the factual matrix of this case”.
Based on Norain’s last drawn monthly salary of RM25,769, the court therefore ordered Petronas to pay her RM1.13 million, comprising backwages of RM515,380 and compensation in lieu of reinstatement of RM618,456.
“This court having evaluated all the evidence before this court finds that the PIP carried out on the claimant does not establish that the claimant was a poor performer deserving a punishment of dismissal from employment with the company,” the ruling read.
