KOTA KINABALU – It was short-lived joy for a group of University College Sabah Foundation (UCSF) staff when the university’s management decided to challenge the labour court’s decision over a refusal to pay their monthly salary in full.
UCSF management, which had halved their staff’s salaries since last year, had brought the case to the high court.
This was after the labour court had, on July 22, decided in favour of the staff and directed the management to pay their salaries in full.
Mohammad Nasrun Abdullah, who is representing the staff, said the management remained adamant and refused to adhere to the labour court’s decision.
“We have exhausted all venues. Although the labour court has decided that the management needs to pay us in full, the university’s management decided to take the matter to the high court.
“We are disappointed with its decision. It said it was not able to pay us, but it can engage a lawyer to try to overturn the labour court’s decision,” said Nasrun.
The university halved its workers’ salaries in October last year after claiming it was facing financial problems due to lower student enrolment as a result of the pandemic.
The management did this in its implementation of a “temporary austerity scheme”, besides advising staff to seek jobs elsewhere.
The scheme was implemented across the board, including for staff earning a minimum wage of RM1,200, resulting in them only earning RM600 per month.
Thirty-seven UCSF staff then brought the matter to the labour court and won.
The labour court, in its ruling, directed the university to settle the staff’s backdated salaries amounting to RM94,709.35.
“However, the amount is only for the month of October until December 2020. They still owe us the remaining salary between January 2021 until March 2021,” said Nasrun, adding that they hoped to have sufficient funds to hire a lawyer to handle the case. – The Vibes, August 19, 2021
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