There are many calls I received in this pressing times. Looks like the employers are taking advantage to cut down their labour force by way of retrenchment. Retrenchment is part and parcel of running a viable business but it should not be done to cut cost to make more profits.
Cutting down the work force to decrease the expenses is fine but it must be done legitimately on the best practices of industrial harmony and it must be done according to the law and procedure of the labour law.
In the case of Harris Solid State (M) Sdn Bhd & Ors v Bruno Gentil Peirara and Ors [1996] 4 CLJ 747, the learned Gopal Sri Ram JCA at that time made a observation and it is as follows:-
"An employer may re-organize his commercial undertaking for any legitimate reason, such as promoting better economic viability. But he must not do so for a collateral purpose, for example, to victimize his workman for their legitimate participation in union activities. Whether the particular exercise of managerial power was exercised bona fide or for collateral reasons is a question of fact that necessarily falls to be decided upon the particular circumstances of each case"
In the above case, the company wanted to sack the worker for his union activities but in our inquiry can the company use the present Covid-19 pandemic and the partial lockdown to cut down the work force to avoid more losses? My opinion, is a no.
What if the company was doing very well in the year 2018 and 2019 with payment of bonuses and increment of salaries to the workers and had expended the work force?
By looking at the case of Harris Solid (M) Sdn Bhd's case and the quota of Gopal Sri Ram JCA, managerial power must be exercised in a bona fide manner. The company should not victimise the workers by sacking them by reason of losing money because of Covid-19 and the partial lockdown.
Ramu
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