PETALING JAYA: The High Court in Kota Kinabalu has quashed an award of RM102,000 in compensation handed down by the Industrial Court in favour of a former employee of Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB).
Justice Ismail Brahim said the tribunal had erred in law and acted irrationally when holding that MAHB had failed to prove the misconduct and abuse of medical benefits by Eldayu Yunus on a balance of probabilities.
“The award dated July 17, 2023 consequently cannot stand and is liable to be quashed,” said Ismail, now a Court of Appeal judge, in his judgment.
Ismail said the High Court is entitled to scrutinise an Industrial Court award for procedural errors and substantive flaws on the merits of the case based on the evidence before it.
He said there was merit in MAHB’s complaints that the Industrial Court had erred in its approach and appreciation of the law and evidence adduced in the case.
Ismail said the Industrial Court had placed undue emphasis on its finding that there were no express limits to the number of visits an employee may make to panel clinics or the monetary value of treatments claimable.
“With respect, this misses the point. An entitlement can be abused if it is utilised excessively, unreasonably or in bad faith, even if no prescribed cap has been breached,” he said.
Ismail ruled that the Industrial Court had misdirected itself on the central issue – whether Eldayu’s medical claims were reasonably necessary and legitimate based on the evidence as a whole.
He said the real basis for Eldayu’s dismissal from her employment with MAHB was her abuse of benefits, and not that she had exceeded the limit of her entitlements.
“By focusing on the latter non-issue, the Industrial Court had failed to judicially appreciate the true nature of the charge against her,” he said.
He said the Industrial Court had placed insufficient weight on the evidence adduced by MAHB in support of its case of abuse, and had instead accepted Eldayu’s bare assertion of illness necessitating clinic visits without corroborative evidence.
“In particular, it disregarded the testimony of Dr Jasman Haris – a witness for the company and the only medical expert called in the trial – that the frequency and pattern of visits by her were not medically warranted based on the diagnosis and medication prescribed,” he said.
He said the Industrial Court had failed to accord any real significance to Jasman’s testimony and instead relied on Eldayu’s self-serving claims, thereby demonstrating a lack of reasoned consideration of the evidence in totality.
Further, the Industrial Court had completely failed to address its mind to whether an adverse inference ought to be drawn against Eldayu for her unjustified refusal to provide consent to MAHB to seek further information from the clinics she visited to verify her medical claims.
Iamail said the selective approach taken by the Industrial Court shows an element of irrationality. No reasonable tribunal properly directing itself would have attached such disproportionate significance to certain evidence while disregarding other cogent evidence without a valid basis, he added.
Eldayu was employed by MAHB in February 2007. Under the terms of her employment, she and her dependents were provided medical benefits for treatment at panel clinics.
In 2020, MAHB conducted data analysis which found that the medical claims made by Eldayu and several other employees were unusually high and frequent, suggesting they had abused the benefits accorded to them.
Eldayu and members of her family were found to have made 231 visits to panel clinics, causing MAHB to fork out about RM33,000 between Jan 1, 2019 and May 1, 2020.
MAHB issued a show cause letter to her on May 14, 2020, detailing the claims and visits to panel clinics which she and her dependents had made, and sought her explanation.
She denied any wrongdoing.
Following a domestic inquiry, she was found guilty of abusing her medical benefits based on the frequency and pattern of her visits and claims which were found to be unjustified.
Her employment was terminated on July 23, 2020, but the Industrial Court in Kota Kinabalu ruled that she was dismissed without just cause or excuse.
The Industrial Court ruled that she could not be reinstated to her former position and awarded her compensation of RM102,139.76 in lieu of reinstatement for 13 years’ service and back wages.
Lawyer Christopher Chong represented MAHB while Ansari Abdullah acted for Eldayu.
Eldayu has filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal.
