Treat foreign workers with dignity despite their meagre wages, says court
Published on: Thursday, February 08, 2024
By:
FMT, V Anbalagan
The Industrial Court rules that PWB Sdn Bhd was correct to dismiss S Paul Benjimen for work-related violence against a Bangladeshi worker. (Facebook pic)
Kuala Lumpur: The Industrial Court has advised employers to treat their foreign workers with dignity, adding that physical violence and aggression at the workplace should never be tolerated.
Court chairman Andersen Ong said foreign workers, as human beings, are entitled to be treated with respect and dignity.
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“Employers must know that all employees, including foreign workers, however humble their status and however meagre their earnings may be, are entitled to be treated as human beings and must be treated with due respect to human dignity,” he said.
Ong made the remarks when rejecting an unfair dismissal claim brought by former site supervisor S Paul Benjimen against facilities management service provider PWB Sdn Bhd.
Benjimen was dismissed for misconduct on Aug 28, 2020, following a domestic inquiry into an allegation of work-related violence against Bangladeshi national Rahman Mohammad Mahbubur, a cleaner.
Benjimen, who was responsible for overseeing the company’s workers, including Rahman, at its superstores in Puchong and Putrajaya, was hauled up before the domestic inquiry panel for assaulting Rahman on two separate occasions.
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“The court is satisfied that the company has successfully discharged the burden of proving the misconduct committed by the claimant for assaulting Rahman on a balance of probabilities,” Ong said in the 20-page award released last week.
He said Benjimen’s act of bullying and inflicting physical injuries on Rahman warranted sanctions.
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“Foreign workers also have the right to due process of the law and are entitled to the same legal protections. If Rahman had indeed committed wrongdoings, the claimant should have reported him to the company for disciplinary action,” he added.
Ong said the company’s former human resources officer, Nabil Fikry Zainudin, gave evidence that he had gone to both stores to investigate the complaint made by Rahman.
He said Nabil found that Benjimen had assaulted Rahman with a broom and also confirmed the injuries sustained by tendering photographs as evidence in court.
Rahman did not testify as he had returned to his home country.
However, he gave evidence before the domestic inquiry on Aug 17, 2020, that Benjimen also slapped him after two of his colleagues complained to Benjimen that he was always late for work.
Rahman said he was also assaulted by Benjimen at the superstore in Putrajaya because he had asked for the phone number of a female promoter there.
Ong said Benjimen’s contention that he had not assaulted Rahman or anyone from the company was a bare denial.
Counsel Haizam Fitri Abdul Jalil represented the company, while K Gunaseelan of the Malaysian Trades Union Congress appeared for Benjimen.
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