FORMER employees of Utusan Melayu Sdn Bhd will seek a fresh court order to force liquidator UHY Advisory (KL) Sdn Bhd to pay them compensation.

This development comes following the company’s refusal to pay termination benefits or compensation to more than 800 employees who were retrenched after Utusan Melayu ceased operations in October 2019.

Former chairman of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) Utusan Melayu branch Mohd Taufek Razak said they would re-file their case to the High Court before March 21.

About 200 former employees filed a claim related to their compensation at the High Court on August 13, 2020 but the matter was left aside pending compensation negotiations with UHY Advisory.

“We will file an application to the High Court to reconsider the latest action by UHY Advisory, which does not want to pay compensation under a collective agreement (CA) between employees and employer.

“We have now discussed with the lawyer. A former member of the NUJ branch of Utusan Melayu will file back in court (on behalf of all),” Taufek told The Malaysian Insight.

Taufek was commenting on UHY Advisory’s statement earlier this week that confirmed the liquidator company had no plans to make any compensation payments.

This was because only employees drawing a salary below RM2,000 and manual labourers are eligible for termination benefits as specified in the Employment Act 1955, UHY Advisory said.

Taufek, however, explained that the signed CA involved 800 staff members in three groups, one of which was an executive group consisting of editors.

The other two groups consist of employees who were members of NUJ – comprising journalists, photographers and graphic designer artists, as well as support groups.

He added under the CA, other employees are eligible to claim termination benefits.

He said UHY Advisory’s decision was unfair to NUJ members who earned a salary of more than RM2,000 a month.

A former Utusan Malaysia employee, Farhana Joni, said she was disappointed and sad with UHY Advisory’s refusal to pay the compensation.

She said employees faced numerous risks working at Utusan Malaysia, which was closely associated with Umno.

She added that many former staff members were mentally and physically affected as a result of the layoff that took place on October 9, 2019.

“While still on duty, employees, especially journalists, dealt with various (unsavoury) statements such as us being government/Umno flatterers.

“But we continued our day-to-day work because everyone understood that it is normal when one works in the media. But in the end, the management left us hanging,” said Farhana.

In its statement last week, UHY Advisory said that all debts owing to employees such as salary arrears have already been paid and it only owes the payment of the remaining staff leave.

Also settled were outstanding Employees Provident Fund (EPF) contributions, income tax payments and gratuities to eligible employees.

It also expects to raise over RM86 million in cash after selling Utusan Melayu’s main assets by the end of this year, which will be used to pay creditors.

Utusan Melayu terminated the services of all its employees on October 31, 2019 due to the company’s declining performance.

Its board of directors, on October 7, 2019, approved the proposed voluntary winding up of creditors and subsequently approved the appointment of UHY Advisory as interim liquidator.

Its executive chairman Abd Aziz Sheikh Fadzir at the time said the move had to be taken because the board of directors thought the company could no longer afford to continue business operations.

A total of 70% of the Utusan Group’s stake in its subsidiary, Dilof Sdn Bhd, was subsequently sold to a company linked to millionaire Syed Mokhtar Albukhary’s Aurora Mulia.

Aurora Mulia was later renamed Media Mulia Sdn Bhd, which also holds the Utusan publishing permit. – March 14, 2022.