The Malaysian Bar - 2011/2012 Industrial Law Committee Interim Report

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2011/2012 Industrial Law Committee Interim Report

Friday, 02 December 2011 04:42pm

The Industrial Law Committee (“ILC”) has met twice at the time of writing this interim report.

(1) Consultative Committee on Industrial Law

ILC’s representatives, Anand Ponnudurai and Jayasingam Poopalasingam, have been attending the Consultative Committee’s meetings, held every three months and chaired by the President of the Industrial Court. Also present at the meetings are most of the Industrial Court Chairmen and representatives from the Ministry of Human Resources, Malaysian Trade Union Congress (“MTUC”) and Malaysian Employers’ Federation (“MEF”).

(2) Review of Labour Laws

PEMANDU (“Performance Management and Delivery Unit”) invited Bar Council to participate in Strategic Reforms Initiatives (“SRI”) Labs, held over a period of six weeks from 21 Feb to 1 Apr 2011. Employer and employee groups, as well as various government departments, participated in the labs.

Amongst the six labs, Bar Council was invited to join the Human Capital Development Lab, which dealt with proposing amendments to various labour legislation. Representatives from ILC attended the Lab to propose amendments to the Employment Act 1955, Industrial Relations Act 1967 and Trade Unions Act 1959.

Upon completion of the labs, reports were written and stakeholders were invited by the Ministry of Human Resources to present and discuss their reports. When Bar Council did not receive an invitation to these meetings, we wrote to the Ministry of Human Resources on 29 June 2011, requesting an explanation as to why our presence was omitted from these meetings. There has been no reply as yet.

(3) Correspondence from the Industrial Court

(a) The President of the Industrial Court informed Bar Council, through a letter dated 15 Dec 2010, that any party who wishes to obtain copies of the cases included in the pilot project of the digital recording system in the Industrial Courts in CD/DVD format, should submit an official request to the relevant court. Members were informed of this via Circular No 313/2010 dated 27 Dec 2010, entitled “Copy of Cases included in the Pilot Project of the Digital Recording System in the Industrial Courts in CD/DVD Format”.

(b) The President of the Industrial Court informed Members of the Bar, through a letter dated 4 Apr 2011, that one reason frequently used by lawyers to seek the postponement of cases is their involvement in hearings in the Federal Court, Court of Appeal, High Court, Sessions Court and Magistrates. As hearing dates in the Industrial Court are fixed with the consent of both parties, the President requests that lawyers inform the judges in the higher courts that they are involved in hearings in the Industrial Court, the dates of which have previously been agreed to. Members were informed of this via Circular No 087/2011 dated 20 Apr 2011, entitled “Requests for Postponement of Cases in the Industrial Court”.

(4) Upcoming events

(a) ILC Annual Dinner
ILC will hold its annual dinner on 15 Dec 2011 at a venue to be confirmed. The Industrial Courts Chairmen will be invited to grace this occasion. Members will be informed of the details in due course.

(b) Employment Law Seminars

ILC will organise a series of employment law seminars in November 2011. The Industrial Courts Chairmen will be invited to speak and moderate the sessions. Members, pupils in chambers, law students and Human Resources personnel are encouraged to seek this opportunity to hone their skills in this specialised area.

Anand Ponnudurai

Chairperson

Industrial Law Committee

Dated 4 Oct 2011

(1) Anand Ponnudurai (Co-Chairperson)

(2) Jayasingam Poopalasingam (Co-Chairperson)

Members:

(3) Andrew Saw

(4) Chandrasegaran Rajandran

(5) Devanathan Seperamaniam

(6) Dinesh Ratnarajah

(7) Janice Anne Leo