When hiring new employees, employers will usually put them on a “probation”. The purpose of the probationary period is to allow employers to assess whether the new employee is suitable for the role and whether they will be a good fit for the company.
“It will be clear that the underlying basis of the doctrine of [forced resignation] is the existence of facts showing that an employee was put under compulsion to resign and that if he declined to do so, the employer would proceed to dismiss him in any event.”
The Industrial Court dealt with the issue of an employee who was placed on a fixed term contract after being retired in Wong Mei Yoke v Tien Wah Press Malaya Sdn Bhd [2018] 1 ILR 20. The decision of this case changed the legal landscape on fixed terms contracts in Malaysia.
The use of video conferencing in Courts is not new. Due to COVID-19 and the Movement Control Order, the civil courts have also allowed more hearings to be conducted online. We have even recently seen a Court of Appeal hearing live-streamed on the judiciary’s website. Can the same be adopted by the Industrial Court?
Although the notice period issue is only looked at from the lens of an employee most of the time, it should not be overlooked that employers similarly have rights to ensure that a resigning employee complies with their contractual obligations. An abrupt resignation or abandonment of employment can cause an employer loss and damage as there would be an unplanned vacancy.
According to the Cambridge Advance Learners Dictionary, an ‘employee’ is defined as “someone who is paid to work for someone else”. While the word in itself appears to encompass all employees, not all employees are provided for under the Employment Act 1955.
Employees are often at a loss upon being dismissed from employment, in not knowing or rather being aware of the proper procedure and channel in which to air their grievances. This article will discuss the entire hearing process of cases heard before the Industrial Court in a simplistic yet understandable manner.
When hiring new employees, employers will usually put them on a “probation”. The purpose of the probationary period is to allow employers to assess whether the new employee is suitable for the role and whether they will be a good fit for the company.
Mutual separation is an agreement between the employer and the employee for the employment relationship to come to an end. Usually, the main feature of a mutual separation is that the employer will agree to a financial pay-out in exchange for the employee agreeing to leave his employer voluntarily through resignation.
Retrenchment is a process of employment termination taken on by businesses due to factors such as a cost reduction exercise, company restructuring, merger or acquisition, or perhaps a winding-up. Retrenchment is not easy for the employer, and will not be taken lightly by the retrenched employees.