In an award released on May 16, court chairman Nazri Ismail said the non-payment of salaries by Tennoz Technology Sdn Bhd, a provider of IT services and supplies, was inexcusable.
“The only reason that the company (gave) for not paying the claimants’ salaries was due to financial difficulties, which (is unjustifiable),” said Nazri.
He said the failure to pay salaries was a “fundamental breach which goes to the root of the (employment) contract”.
Nazri also said the claimants were correct to treat themselves as constructively dismissed one week after issuing a notice to the company dated March 6, 2023, demanding payment of all their outstanding salaries, EPF and other dues.
He noted that prior to that the company’s representative, Wan Azrul Wan Zainal Abidin, had in an email dated Feb 2, 2023 informed the claimants that it was unable to pay their salaries due to financial difficulties.
In another email one week later, Wan Azrul promised that all salaries would be paid once the company received payment of RM157,000 from a third party. However, the company failed to honour its commitment.
Following that, one of the claimants sought to discuss the matter with management, but no meeting was arranged.
Nazri said the claimants had given the company a “reasonable timeline” of one month before issuing their letters of demand dated March 6, 2023.
Based on the facts, he said the claimants had successfully established their cases on a balance of probabilities.
Nazri found that they had not been paid their salaries and promised increments for a total of four and a half months – from November 2022 to March 13, 2023, the date of their constructive dismissal letters.
Nazri made no deductions to his award of backwages.
“The claimants gave unchallenged evidence that after their constructive dismissal from employment, they could not find any jobs to sustain themselves,” he said.
In the 26-page award, Nazri said reinstatement was not a suitable remedy as the working relationship between the claimants and the company had soured.
The claimants – Zulkarnain Shah Abang Zaidi, Ting Huat Chong, Zaiful Hisham Salleh, Edelina Samsir Hadi, Michael Teddy Patrick Dabot, and Lokman Hakim Safawi – were each awarded between RM107,250 and RM155,250.
They had been with the company for three years, earning between RM14,300 and RM20,700 in monthly wages.
Nazri said the amount must be settled within 30 days, failing which interest at the rate of 5% per annum would accrue until full settlement of the award.
Lawyers Nicholas Wung and Anastasia Chin represented the claimants while Fairuz Masri and Siti Annafiah Ajebar acted for Tennoz Technology.