Woman in Malaysia retrenched for taking sick leave for period cramps
After applying for a few days of sick leave as she was experiencing menstruation or period cramps, a woman in Malaysia was reportedly fired.
She eventually took her employer — who accused her of lying about feeling ill — to court.
In the end, the woman won the lawsuit and received compensation.
Filed court case as she felt retrenchment was unreasonable
According to Sin Chew Daily, Malaysian lawyer Lin Wei Lie (name transliterated from Chinese) shared about the incident on Xiaohongshu recently.
Recounting the woman’s case, Mr Lin shared that the company accused her of faking her illness to obtain a Medical Certificate (MC).
Unhappy with the unreasonable circumstances that led to her retrenchment, she filed a court case against her former employer.
The Industrial Court of Malaysia sided with her as they believed her MC was authentic and valid.
The woman ended up receiving a compensation of RM180,000 (S$50,973).
Employees should not be fired if they rightfully applied for MC
In his post, Mr Lin stressed that employers cannot fire workers if they’ve rightfully applied for their MC due to actual sickness.
Therefore, they also cannot retrench employees on the grounds that they had applied an excessive amount of sick leave.
Employers will only have the right to retrench employees who’ve legitimately abused their MC usage. Examples of such abuse are applying for medical leave to go on vacation or forging MCs.
An individual who falsifies their MCs may face a maximum seven-year jail term of a fine under Section 471 of the Penal Code in Malaysia.
Also read: Woman From Australia Bumps Into Boss On Flight After Taking Sick Leave To Travel
Woman From Australia Bumps Into Boss On Flight After Taking Sick Leave To Travel
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