MORE than 800 former Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd employees are still waiting for their severance package following the media company’s closure nearly four years ago.

The staff concerned were earning up to RM2,000 a month when the company was closed in October 2019.

They are only eligible to receive redundancy benefits, based on the Employment Act 1995, yet they are still fighting for their compensation.

A former employee said they hoped to be able to negotiate with the liquidator, UHY Advisory.

“The company will not give anything but there is a negotiation process, we will do it with the liquidator,” said the employee, who declining to be named.

“Our hope is that either the company or the liquidator can find a way for us to get proper compensation,” he said.

Among their demands include the payment of leave balance, overtime claims, tokens, allowances, commissions, as well as damages for the notice of closure, he said.

The company also only made salary arrears payments for two months in 2020, he said.

Utusan Melayu was formed in the 1930s. It published Utusan Melayu – which was, at the time of the company’s demise, the oldest newspaper in the country – and later Utusan Malaysia and Kosmo.

In 2019, the company closed down after it could no longer bear the burden of accumulated debt over the years, which was estimated to be RM240-RM340 million.

Good news for VSS recipients

Meanwhile, as one group of employees is still fighting for compensation, those who participated in an earlier voluntary separation scheme (VSS) in 2018 are finally being paid, following a Kuala Lumpur High Court ruling in October last year.

More than 600 people took VSS when it was offered in 2018, some of whom said payments started last week, with 160 of them receiving around RM500,000 each.

“Full payment to VSS recipients started last Monday,” said one former employee, who declined to be identified, adding that the windfall was timely with Hari Raya just around the corner.

In the case brought by the 160 VSS recipients, the judge ruled they were entitled to the payment as they were beneficiaries, not creditors, with the liquidator forking out the remaining RM58.5 million.

Yet, several groups of ex-employees are still fighting for compensation.

Among them are about 200 members of the National Union of Journalists of Peninsular Malaysia (NUJ) Utusan Melayu branch, who filed a claim in the High Court on August 13, 2020.

Also on October 1 last year, a group of former employees gathered to demand outstanding compensation.

They urged the liquidator to make statutory payments, compensation and also arrears for the employee separation scheme.

Meanwhile, flagship newspaper Utusan Malaysia was later revived by Media Mulia Sdn Bhd. – April 14, 2023.