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Industrial Court upheld dismissal of an employee with 39 years’ service who betrayed trust, honesty and integrity

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We acted for Tenaga Nasional Berhad (‘TNB’) in this claim of unfair dismissal filed by a former employee who was a Meter Reader Examiner in charge of monitoring meter readings for consumers’ premises, including his own house. This employee of 39 years service was dismissed after being found guilty of misconduct involving his failure to report irregularity in the electricity meter in his own house. Upon inspection by the Company’s technician, it was discovered that the electricity meter in this employee’s house had stopped functioning for about 2 years and he failed to report such irregularity.  

We were successful in this case against the employee as the Industrial Court held that the employee had acted dishonestly in breach of the trust and confidence reposed on him. On the proportionality of the punishment of dismissal, the Industrial Court held that such betrayal of trust by the employee could not be condoned by a punishment lesser than dismissal as it would set a dangerous precedent to other employees. The Court took the view that honesty and integrity are amongst the key characteristics that any employee should possess, no matter what form of employment the employee is engaged in.

The Industrial Court upheld the dismissal as fair.

This case was led by Wong Keat Ching  and Syazwani Suhaimy. 

Please click here for the full award of Mohd Arif bin Mohd Sharif v Tenaga Nasional Berhad.