KUALA LUMPUR: A private college has been directed to compensate 17 lecturers nearly RM1.4 million in total for unfair dismissal.
The Industrial Court determined that the justification for their retrenchment was unclear.
In an article on Free Malaysia Today, Industrial Court chairman Nur Fauzah Mokhtar cast doubts on the redundancy claims regarding the lecturers' positions at Widad College.
The court questioned whether the selection for retrenchment adhered to standard principles.
Nur Fauzah said that Widad Education Sdn Bhd, managing both Widad University College and Widad College, failed to demonstrate sufficient cost-cutting efforts to avoid the layoffs and was not in good faith.
"The company dismissed the lecturers solely on redundancy grounds without exploring other cost-reduction measures or offering alternative solutions to dismissal. Additionally, management committee witnesses could not conclusively explain the retrenchment selection criteria," she said.
The court found that the retrenchment was based on the balance of probabilities.
The lecturers, who had tenures ranging from four to 20 years and earned between RM2,100 and RM3,950 monthly, were retrenched on June 30, 2021, following a three-month notice.
They taught various subjects, including mass communication, information and multimedia, allied health sciences, computer sciences, and more.
Each dismissed lecturer was awarded compensation between RM51,150 and RM114,767, covering reinstatement, back wages, and unused annual leave.
During a collective hearing in December last year, the lecturers testified that their dismissals were unexpected, with no prior discussions or notices regarding the company's financial status.
The lecturers claimed they were not offered alternatives such as salary reductions, lesser working days, or transfers to other departments or Widad University College within the entity.
They also said that they were forced to take unpaid leave for their unused leave two weeks before retrenchment.
Despite claiming financial losses, the company organised events between July 2021 and June 2022, including a corporate dinner party at Sri Manja Boutique Hotel on Dec 16, 2021.
Widad Education argued that these events were funded by staff and student club collections.
The company reported RM19 million in losses over four years, affecting its cash flow and finances, with a declining student intake from 2016 to 2020.
They claimed the outstanding wages and statutory dues before the lecturers' retrenchment totalled RM5.89 million.
The company said that they only made a profit in 2016, incurring losses in subsequent years, and struggled to pay employees, including former employees of Shahputra College, which they had acquired.