Court chairman Eswary Maree said the claimant, Ruslan Anwar Saleh’s dismissal from employment with MMC Engineering Group Bhd was warranted.

“Given the seriousness of his misconduct when taken collectively, it was not desirable to continue his employment with the company.”

Eswary said the MMC Engineering had shown on a balance of probabilities that Ruslan was guilty of two counts of misconduct.

“No reasonable employer would have retained the claimant in its employment on the misconduct committed.

“It would not be appropriate to let the claimant off with any other lighter punishment. As the head of quality, health, safety and environment in the company, he has to lead by example in all his actions and conduct,” she said in a 32-page award released last week.

Eswary said the claimant was guilty of an act of dishonesty, had abused his position and acted in conflict of interest, all of which were in breach of the company’s written policies and procedures.

“The relationship between the employer and the employee is a fiduciary one.

“Therefore, if an employee does anything incompatible with the due or faithful discharge of his duties to his master, the latter has a right to dismiss,” she added.

Ruslan was appointed to his position on April 25, 2018 for a fixed term of three years.

His contract required him to abide by the company’s code of ethics.

He was issued with a show cause letter for handing over his access card to a subordinate. The subordinate was asked to clock Ruslan in and out of the office between January to February 2019.

Between April and June 2019, Ruslan attempted to get his subordinates involved in certain external business undertakings which he entered into for personal gain.

A domestic inquiry found him guilty of both charges but cleared him of being absent from work on Aug 15 and 30, 2019.

The company sacked him from employment. The matter was then referred to the Industrial Court for adjudication on Nov 12, 2019.

Eswary said two witnesses had testified during the inquiry and in the Industrial Court that Ruslan had asked them to punch in and out of the office on his behalf.

“The claimant had admitted during cross-examination that there were no inconsistencies between the statements provided by (these) witnesses,” she said.

Eswary said there was no motive for the witnesses to be untruthful or provide false testimony as there was no animosity between them and Ruslan.

She said Ruslan had also acted under a conflict of interests when he had attempted to use the company’s resources for his own benefit.

“Three company witnesses confirmed that the claimant had invited them to prepare an ISO document for an external party using the existing ISO manual belonging to the company and/or MMC Group,” she said.

Lawyers T Thavalingam and Aida Yasmin Cheree Mohamad appeared for the company while counsel Nur Shazwani Shahdan represented Ruslan.