KUALA LUMPUR: A former senior information technology manager at Heineken Malaysia Bhd has been awarded RM893,200 after the Industrial Court ruled her dismissal was unfair.
According to online portal FMT, Industrial Court chairman Augustine Anthony said the company's reorganisation appeared aimed at pushing Heng Hui Chuen out after 21 years of service.
He said the allegation of poor performance, cited as the reason for her dismissal, was merely a pretext to expedite her exit.
"This court is of the view that the claimant's claim of unfair and unjust treatment ever since a new transformation and technology director was appointed is demonstrable and had merits," he was quoted as saying in the Nov 5 ruling.
Heineken was ordered to pay Heng RM424,270 in back wages for 19 months, along with RM468,930, equivalent to 21 months' salary, as compensation in lieu of reinstatement.
Anthony said the company failed to provide evidence of Heng's poor performance between 2019 and 2022, which the company cited as the reason for her termination.
He said Heng had a strong career record, having been promoted several times over her 21 years with the company, and was appointed IT operations head after 17 years.
"The claimant's good performance in her early years was consistently maintained as her career progressed. The claimant's performances exceeded expectations in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
"Then, for the years 2017 and 2018, the claimant's performance was rated as 'meeting expectations'."
Heng's 2019 appraisal was conducted by the company's new transformation and technology head, Tee Chin Yi, who joined in June that year.
Tee rated Heng as "partially meeting expectations" and placed her on a performance improvement plan in 2020.
Anthony said he couldn't confidently assess the fairness of Heng's 2019 appraisal, citing the company's lack of adequate documentation to support its mid-year assessment.
He added that the decline in Heng's performance was likely due to company changes rather than personal failings.
"Between July 2019 and January 2020, the claimant's subordinates were transferred out of her supervision and control, leaving her with a significantly reduced number of subordinates, which was certain to affect her unit's overall performance.
"With the probationer (Tee) barely accustomed to the company's work environment suddenly supervising a long-standing senior employee, the claimant had to now deal with another sudden change, as he was appointed as the transformation and technology director of the company in January 2020."