In a landmark decision delivered last September, the Court of Appeal ruled that injuries sustained by technician N Sathiaseelan following an accident on a Sunday while returning from his hometown, was an employment injury even though it occurred on his day off.

The unanimous decision today was made by an apex court panel, chaired by Court of Appeal president Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim, who sat with Justices Zabariah Yusof and Harmindar Singh Dhaliwal.

Sathiaseelan’s counsel, T Manoharan, said the judges agreed with his submissions that the applicant failed to satisfy the threshold for leave to appeal set out in Section 96(a) of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964.

“A case must originate from the High Court to qualify for its final appeal to be heard at the Federal Court. This case, however, originated from the Socso board, which means the Court of Appeal is the apex court.

“This decision is final now. It effectively means that Socso will have to entertain claims from members who meet with an accident while travelling from their hometowns back to the towns or cities they are working in,” he told FMT.

Sathiaseelan, who was working as a senior technician at Infineon Technologies Sdn Bhd in Kulim, Kedah, met with an accident while returning to his workplace on Oct 16, 2016, after spending the weekend at his home in Ipoh.

The accident caused multiple injuries and disabilities to the technician, but his temporary disability claims were rejected by Socso on the grounds that the injuries sustained did not qualify as an employment injury under the Employees’ Social Security (ESS) Act 1969.

In its decision, the Socso board said the claims were invalid since he was travelling on his day off under Section 24(1)(a) of the ESS Act.

Sathiaseelan’s initial appeal to the High Court in Ipoh was also dismissed.