Syed Hizam Alsagof, whose contract was not renewed after he was handed three consecutive suspensions by the company, had taken his employers to the Sarawak Industrial Court for unfairly dismissing him from their employment.

On Nov 1 last year, Industrial Court chairman Nazri Ismail ruled in Syed Hizam’s favour, holding that the company had no justifiable cause to terminate his services.

Nazri said CMSB had failed to discharge its legal and evidential burden of proving on a balance of probabilities that it had dismissed Syed Hizam with just cause or excuse.

The court ordered the company to pay Syed Hizam RM3,534,114, comprising compensation in lieu of reinstatement of RM1,299,904, back wages of RM1,949,856 and unused annual leave valued at RM284,354.

“The primary relief for an unjustified dismissal is reinstatement. However, in deciding whether the claimant should be reinstated to his former position, this court has to consider the industrial harmony of the parties.

“He (Syed Hizam) was holding a senior and important position and was dismissed more than two years ago. His position was filled up after his termination as business had to go on. Hence, it would not be in the interest of industrial harmony to reinstate him,” Nazri said in his award sighted by FMT.

On CMSB’s main contention that it was the company’s standard practice to employ all senior management employees on fixed-term contracts, Nazri said Syed Hizam’s contracts had been renewed successfully in the past.

He said Syed Hizam’s contract was automatically renewed throughout his 16 years with CMSB without any application on his part and without intermittent breaks in between.

The court chairman also noted Syed Hizam had insisted that he was a permanent employee.

“The company awarded bonuses, salary increments and special one-off payments eight times since 2010 for his annual performance until his non-renewal in 2021. This conduct by CMSB to reward the claimant for his annual performance shows his contract’s permanency,” he said.

Nazri also said Syed Hizam’s service with CMSB was not tied to any specific time-based project. The employment contract was not one-off, seasonal or temporary but permanent, he added.

The Industrial Court also ruled that the company’s ongoing legal action against Syed Hizam, which began only a year after his services were terminated, was not a matter that operated on the company’s mind when it decided to dismiss him.

CMSB had initially suspended Syed Hizam with full pay for 30 days in May 2021 to investigate allegations of financial mismanagement.

The company subsequently extended the suspension to Aug 2 and then to Aug 31, the day on which Syed Hizam’s contract was due to expire.

“The company’s witnesses testified that it was not tenable to renew the employment contract due to the ongoing investigations against the claimant. They said the company had not made any specific finding of guilt or preferred any charge for alleged financial mismanagement or misconduct against him.

“Further, they testified that the sole ground for the termination was the non-renewal of his contract due to its expiry,” he said.

The appeal is scheduled for case management in the Kuching High Court tomorrow.

Syed Hizam is represented by lawyer Satinder Singh.