Commenting on the ruling by the Industrial Court of Malaysia, Dharmen Sivalingam, Managing Partner at Dharmen Sivalingam & Partners, said:

“This was a case where the company relooked at the way their organization structure is set up and filled up with what level of people. There were small groups of people who, as a result of this exercise had to move to lower or smaller roles resulting in negative impact to some benefits. The company was fair in trying to mitigate for this reduction but the claimant felt otherwise and brought an action of unjust dismissal. We managed to persuade the court that reorganization is a prerogative of the management and even in cases where this may result in reduced benefits. So long as an employer acts reasonably in doing so, a case of constructive dismissal will not be made out.

Prevailing the opinion of other IR experts that the chances of company’s success was very low, we took it on and duly set up the true facts and reasonableness behind the implementation of the restructuring despite the reduced benefits.”