Announcement

Industrial Court Restate the Law on Forced Resignation

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Ms Wong Keat Ching and Ms Syazwani Suhaimy from ZUL RAFIQUE & partners’ Employment & Industrial Relations practice group, succeeded in defending Tenaga Nasional Berhad (the ‘Company’) in an unfair and unjust dismissal claim by the Company’s former meter reader in the case of Muhammad Taufiq bin Mohd Pahlawi (the ‘Claimant’) v Tenaga Nasional Berhad (Award No: 551 of 2020), Industrial Court.

In this case, the Claimant pleaded that his dismissal was unjust and unfair on the ground of forced resignation. The Claimant contended that he was dismissed by being forced to sign the letter of resignation by his then superior in the Company but he did not adduce any evidence to support his claims that he had been victimized and/or forced to resign, apart from his own bare assertions.

On this issue, the Industrial Court found that the Claimant had resigned voluntarily when he signed and filled in his exit form without stating that he was being forced to resign by his superior, but instead, stated that he was leaving because he had gotten better offer salary/ job.

The Court also found that the Claimant had failed to discharge his burden of proof on establishing he was threatened, coerced or compelled to resign when he did not inform the management his objection on his resignation when he received the letter nor did he report the matter to the union when he himself knew that he could have brought the matter to the Union.

Thus, on a balance of probabilities, the Industrial Court held that the Claimant has tendered his resignation voluntarily and that there was no issue of whether the dismissal was with just cause or excuse.


For more insight into this area of law, please contact our Partners in the Employment & Industrial Relations Practice Group: 
P Jayasingam 
Wong Keat Ching  
Thavaselvi Pararajasingam