KOTA KINABALU: The Kota Kinabalu Industrial Court has dismissed a claim of constructive dismissal brought by former director Chong Khing Chung against Wullersdorf Resources Sdn Bhd and its holding company Bahvest Resources Bhd.
Bahvest was formerly known as Borneo Aqua Harvest Bhd and is now known as Aumas Resources Bhd.
In the decision on Jan 28, Industrial Court Sabah Chairman Datuk Indra Ayub found that the claimant (Chong) had no valid grounds in law to support his claim for constructive dismissal.
He stated that, based on the evidence presented, the claimant failed to prove that the companies had constructively dismissed him, and that the companies’ version is inherently probable than the claimant ’s version.
After considering all the evidence, the Court finds that the companies neither breached the express or implied fundamental terms of the claimant ’s employment contract nor indicated any intention to repudiate these terms. Consequently, the claimant has failed to prove that he was constructively dismissed by the companies.
“In conclusion, this Court is of the opinion that the claimant has abandoned his employment in the companies or has left the companies on his own accord.
“There was no dismissal of the claimant from his employment with the Companies. It was the claimant who chose to leave his employment after a civil action namely the Sandakan Suit was brought against him by the Companies. Hence, the claimant could not claim that he was constructively dismissed by the Companies,” he said.
Indra added that pursuant to section 30(5) of the Industrial Relations Act 1967 and guided by the principles of equity, good conscience and substantial merits of the case without regard to technicalities and legal forms and after having considered the totality of the evidence adduced, this Court is of the view that the Claimant had failed to establish on the balance of probabilities that the claimant was constructively dismissed by the Companies.
“This Court therefore makes a finding that the claimant was not entitled to consider himself to be constructively dismissed. In the circumstances, the claimant ’s claim is dismissed accordingly with no order as to costs,” he said.
For record, Chong, who had been employed since May 2017 as a director of Bahvest and later appointed to the board of Wullersdorf, resigned with immediate effect on July 10, 2023.
He subsequently filed a claim under Section 20(3) of the Industrial Relations Act 1967, alleging that he had been constructively dismissed after being named as the third defendant in a civil suit initiated by the companies in Sandakan (Sandakan suit), which later transferred to Tawau (currently known as Tawau Suit).
The claimant avers that he was constructively dismissed by the Companies due to the Claimant being named as the third Defendant in the Sandakan Suit.
The Companies states that there had been no dismissal of the claimant ’s employment by the Companies or any form of constructive dismissal. It was the Claimant who chose to resign and left the Companies, without giving prior notice to the Companies for purposes of rectifying the alleged breach of any term of employment of the claimant.
