University College Sabah Foundation (UCSF) is going to the High Court to challenge a July 22 labour court decision in favour of 35 of its employees.

The workers sued UCSF because it had cut their salaries by half. The court ruled that UCSF must pay them a total of RM94,709.35, representing accumulated salaries deducted between October and December last year.

Sabah MTUC secretary Catherine Jikunan, who represented the group in the hearing, told FMT she was disappointed by UCSF’s decision to prolong the workers’ ordeal by going to a higher court.

She said most of them were in the B40 income group and “some are merely earning the minimum wage of RM1,200 per month” and would not have the funds to hire lawyers.

“I appeal to the state government to intervene in this matter and direct UCSF to pay the amount set by the labour court,” she said.

She also urged UCSF to reconsider its decision and settle the matter as directed by the court.

Previously, a spokesman for all the 146 UCSF employees affected by the pay cut had said they received only half their salaries from September 2020 and had asked the state government to intervene.

Jikunan said there had been information that the state government had channelled some funds to UCSF through Sabah Foundation and that the money was believed to be meant for the settlement of unpaid salaries.

However, she added, the workers subsequently received only 75% of their April 2021 salaries and the wages owed to them from last October to March this year had not come through.