Salary Payment During Police Detention

Kita termakan pujukan kawan-kawan untuk join demonstrasi BERSIH 2.1 dan unfortunately nasib kita tak baik, dan kita telah ditangkap oleh pihak berkuasa kerana menyertai perhimpunan haram. Or kiat jalan-jalan di hujung minggu dan kebetulan lalu di kawasan demonstrasi, nasib kita masih tak baik, kita berada di wrong place at the wrong time dan ditangkap oleh pihak berkuasa. Arahan tahanan reman untuk tujuan siasatan dikeluarkan dan kita telah ditahan selama 3 hari (contoh) untuk tujuan itu.

Nasib kita baik pula, kerana majikan tidak mengambil tindakan ke atas kita kerana tidak hadir bekerja. TAPI! Bila check gaji pada hujung bulan, nampak macam sikit. YA! Mmg sikit dari yang biasa sebab pada Seksyen 23, Akta Kerja 1955 jelas menyatakan –

S23. Wages shall not become payable to or recoverable by any employee from his employer for or on account of the term of any sentence of imprisonment undergone by him or for any period spent by him in custody or for or on account of any period spent by him in going to or returning from prison or other place of custody or for or on account of any period spent by him in going to, attending before or returning from a court otherwise than as a witness on his employer’s behalf.  

Malah, ada contoh-contoh quote cases yang boleh dijadikan panduan dalam perkara ini –

In MSAS Cargo International (M) Sdn. Bhd. v. Rajaratnam M.K. Rajan [1994] 2 ILR 1030 (Award No. 461 of 1994) where the court referred to “Industrial Court” by Smith & Wood, 4th edn at p. 309 as follows:

“Where the crime arises within the employment (the obvious example being theft or the employer’s property) the employer’s need to dismiss may appear to him to be more urgent, but at the same time the employee under suspicion must not be treated arbitrarily. The position as it has evolved (particularly since the decision of the EAT British Home Stores Ltd v. Burchell, approved by the Court of Appeal in W. Weddell & Co Ltd v. Tepper) is that the employer may dismiss if he has a genuine belief in the employee’s guilt, which is based upon reasonable grounds; he does not have to be able to prove the employee’s guilt and so provided the employer has his genuine belief it is irrelevant if the employee is later acquitted of the offence (or indeed if the police decline to bring charges).”

Bonus - is it employee's right?

Kerja setahun lengkap contoh pada tahun 2015, then pada tahun 2016 mengambil keputusan untuk letak jawatan sebab terima tawaran kerja baru. Bayaran bonus bagi keuntungan yang dibuat syarikat dibuat pada bulan May 2016, tapi anda meletak jawatan pada April 2016 bermaksud bila bayaran bonus dibuat, anda masih lagi pekerja syarikat. Tapi bila tiba masa, check akaun gaji NO BONUS! As an employee, can we bark at this? Whole 2015, kita bekerja penat lelah, siang malam untuk syarikat.

So, this is what the Industrial Court says –

In the case of UMW Toyota (M) Sdn. Bhd. v. Chow Weng Thiem [1996] 5 MLJ 678, the High Court held as follows:

“A bonus is a gift or gratuity as a gesture of goodwill, and not enforceable, or it may be something which an employee is entitled to on the happening of a condition precedent and is enforceable when the condition is fulfilled. But in both cases it is something in addition to or in excess of that which is ordinarily received. Since bonus was a form of gratuitous payment of a discretionary nature, the respondent was not entitled to it as of right.”

So, apakah maksudnya? Unfortunately, pembayaran bonus adalah sentiasa tertakluk kepada budi bicara syarikat walaupun sebagai pekerja, kita telah bekerja setahun penuh pada tahun sebelumnya. There’s nothing that we can do about it except to appeal to the payout which most of the time will be rejected. BONUS IS THE DISCRETION OF THE COMPANY!