THE Kuala Lumpur Industrial Court has held that the dismissal of Nuraainaa Alias who was the former account and administration executive of Beaudrey Asia Sdn Bhd, a French multinational corporation, was with just cause or excuse.
In her judgment, the court chairperson Vanithamany Sivalingam noted that the employer had been able to prove the 37 charges of misconduct committed by its 38-year-old ex-employee on balance of probabilities.
“The claimant alleged that the charges of misconducts were an attempt to get rid of her from the company,” the learned chairperson pointed out in her 33-page judgment dated Dec 5.
“The company has bought nine witnesses to prove its case. On the other hand, the claimant did not adduce sufficient evidence to prove her case.”
In fact, there was ample evidence to prove that the ex-employee who joined the company on Feb 2, 2015 ignored the instruction of her superior and neglected to perform her duties promptly.
Moreover, she did not produce any cogent evidence to disprove the company’s allegations. Of particular interest is that Nuraainaa chose not to reply to the show cause letter served on her nor did she attend the domestic inquiry.
The ex-employee could have brought her grievance to the company’s attention via the domestic inquiry but she did not do so. All in all, she was found guilty of 37 charges of misconduct levelled against her.
‘Dirty joke’ allegation
The ex-employee also alleged that the company’s allegations of misconduct was an excuse framed by the global leader in the design, installation and service of fully customisable water screening and condenser protection equipment to get rid of her following the complaint of sexual harassment she lodged against her employer.
Nuraainaa had accused her employer for having sexually harassed her by allegedly giving inappropriate comments during a farewell dinner event on May 2, 2019.
The court found that the ex-employee did not give a clear explanation of what she perceived of her employer’s inappropriate comments but merely mentioned that it sounded like a dirty joke.
The court further held that the ex-employee had failed to prove her sexual harassment allegation against her employer.
She even alleged that all women employees in the company had experienced sexual harassment.
However, none of the company’s witnesses gave evidence in favour of the ex-employee nor did the company’s witnesses mentioned anything about the existence of sexual harassment in the company during the trial.
Lawyers Leonard Yeoh Soon Beng and Pua Jun Wen from Messrs Tay & Partners represented Beaudrey Asia while Nurul Hafidzah Hassan and Fatin Syaza Irdina from Messrs Nurul Hafidzah & Associates appeared for Nuraainaa. – Dec 9, 2024
