KUALA LUMPUR (July 23): The Industrial Court has ordered the operator of the 4Fingers Crispy Chicken restaurant chain to pay RM309,00 in compensation to a former manager for dismissing him without just cause during the Covid-19 lockdown period.

Gimme4Fingers Malaysia Sdn Bhd's former business development manager Hoh Seng Kong was awarded the sum by Industrial Court chairman Andersen Ong Wai Leong in a decision dated July 16.

According to the judgment, sighted by The Edge on Tuesday, the award took into consideration Hoh's salary for a 24-month period as well as compensation in lieu of reinstatement.

Hoh, who became Gimme4Fingers Malaysia’s business development manager after a three-month probation on June 1, 2019, was axed on April 16, 2020. The company told him that it had to let him go as it was facing financial constraints caused by the pandemic and the movement control order implemented by the government at that time.

In his judgment, Ong however noted that the company’s 2019 financial statement showed that it recorded a net profit of RM3.58 million that year, with a significant amount of cash or cash equivalent totalling RM6.7 million with the company.

“As such, it is unlikely that the company would be facing serious cash flow problems as early as February 2020 since the company had made a good net profit exceeding RM3 million in 2019,” he said, agreeing with Hoh that the company was never in such financial difficulty to the extent that would entitle it to retrench the claimant.

Ong said that the company did not take steps to avoid Hoh’s retrenchment nor did it give him early warning on the matter.

“On the facts, the company has also failed to prove that the claimant was retrenched due to genuine redundancy. The evidence suggests that the claimant was retrenched as a precautionary measure to save costs amid the uncertainties at that time,” Ong said.

Lawyers Leonard Yeoh and Pua Jun Wen represented Hoh, while Chan Sway Hwa and Phan Mei Yin appeared for the company.