[UPDATED] Ex-Perwaja Steel staff to receive up to RM21,000 in compensation: PM

KUALA LUMPUR – Some 700 former employees of Perwaja Steel Sdn Bhd who were retrenched back in 2014 will be receiving compensations ranging from RM3,000 to RM21,000, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced today. 

The prime minister said that the payout comes as a result of a seven-year legal battle in which the court ruled in favour of the former employees, with total compensations valued at RM8.645 million. 

“All 709 former employees of Perwaja Steel Sdn Bhd will receive compensation after their services were terminated in November 2014. 

“Recipients of the compensation will be receiving cheques worth between RM3,000 to RM21,000,” Ismail said in a Twitter post.

Di Kemaman hari ini bagi menyampaikan pampasan kepada bekas pekerja Perwaja Steel Sdn Bhd. pic.twitter.com/Op7IweYQ8U

— Ismail Sabri (@IsmailSabri60) April 24, 2022

Perwaja Steel’s parent company, Perwaja Holdings Bhd, had in a December 2014 statement announced the cessation of the subsidiary, resulting in a company-wide retrenchment exercise.

At the point of the announcement, the company had some 1,500 employees on its payroll. The original lawsuit was later initiated by 789 former staff claiming they were owed several months’ wages and remaining benefits. 

Following the drawn-out legal battle, a judge in 2020 ruled that the former employees were entitled to their owed wages. 

The judge granted the maximum amount payable to the former employees, funded by the liquidation of Perwaja Steel’s assets, which was limited to wages for four consecutive months’ work. 

The court decided such payments shall exclude termination and lay-off benefits, annual leave pay, sick leave pay, public holiday pay and maternity allowance still owed.

Then in January 2018, Perwaja Steel fell into receivership with RHB Bank Bhd reportedly hired as receivers tasked with selling Perwaja Steel’s remaining properties to repay outstanding debts. 

In February this year, Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor revealed he remained open to proposals to redevelop the former Perwaja Steel manufacturing plant site near Gurun as a new non-ferrous industrial area.

He had said these proposals must, however, comply with criteria set by the Environment Department before developing the 200ha area site. — The Vibes, April 24, 2022