Court rules in favour of ex-MDEC staff, awards over RM800k in compensation

A FORMER manager with the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) was awarded RM810,628 in compensation yesterday after the Industrial Court found the Government agency of unfair dismissal, after a court proceeding that took nearly two years.

According to online news portal The Malay Mail Online, MDEC is supposed to make the payment to claimant Thomas Kuruvilla, who served MDEC between September 2007 and May 2018, within 30 days.

Kuruvilla was represented by lawyer TM Varughese, while MDEC was represented by lawyers Shariffullah Majeed and Amardeep Singh Toor.

Industrial Court chairman Augustine Anthony presided over the case.

During the trial, which began on Feb 28, 2019, MDEC argued that Kuruvilla’s work performance went on a downward spiral after 2015, which forced the organisation to place him under several performance improvement plans (PIP) until 2017.

They claimed that despite all the guidance given, Kuruvilla was said to have not made much improvements, which led to his dismissal in May 2018.

However, Kuruvilla’s defence team countered by saying that since being employed there in 2007 in a senior managerial role, the former was performing well for seven years until a new CEO took over MDEC in September 2014.

Kuruvilla was then transferred to another department in April 2015.

The new CEO, Datuk Yasmin Mahmood, served MDEC for four years before quitting in January 2019.

Kuruvilla said that he was not a lacklustre performer and should have never been placed under the PIPs, adding that in the new department, he was given multiple objectives unrelated to his job scope.

Kuruvilla was also made subordinate to several other managers, given little guidance, and at times placed under humiliating circumstances.

He claimed that it was an attempt by MDEC to terminate his services, by engaging in unfair labour practices to victimise him.

After listening to both counsel’s argument, Anthony decided that Kuruvilla’s was indeed not given enough time to accomplish the tasks assigned to him. The court chairman also found that Kuruvilla was not given enough opportunity to improve and was not given adequate guidance during his PIPs.

It was determined that Kuruvilla’s frequent transfers, in a short period of less than four years after his September 2014 transfer to another department, and his placement under various performance managers was clear evidence of MDEC putting him under extreme pressure and created hurdles to his work performance.

As such, the company’s overall conduct was deemed not to help Kuruvilla’s performance, but was driven to cause its deterioration instead. To this, Anthony ruled that MDEC failed to prove that his dismissal from employment was done with just cause.

Kuruvilla’s awarded sum includes 24 months of back wages totalling RM572,208, and compensation in lieu of reinstatement for 10 months, totalling RM238,420.

On related matter, MDEC chairman Datuk Rais Hussin told FocusM that he will provide an official statement once he had gathered details in regards to the recent court decision and their next course of action.

Last month, MDEC announced a major shake-up of its management team to keep up with the challenges of unprecedented times.

Eight senior executives have left the organisation in stages since last year, prompting many to speculate that was a crisis in MDEC, which the latter have denied.

“Recent hires include executives from the private sector such as IBM, Microsoft, Celcom Bhd, Touch ‘N’ Go, Astro, Edelman, technology start-ups, Pemandu Associates, Media Prima Bhd and more.

“This is an unprecedented time in human history, and we welcome the constructive feedback and support to enable us to lead the digital economy forward to benefit the many,” MDEC was reported saying. – Feb 6, 2021.

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