KUALA LUMPUR – Employees who travel from their hometown a day earlier to attend work the following day are entitled to Social Security Organisation (Socso) claims in the event they suffer injuries during their commute, the Court of Appeal ruled.
Free Malaysia Today (FMT) reported the appellate court’s landmark decision yesterday which ruled that the commute shall also be considered as “travelling to work”.
The decree was made by a three-member bench consisting of Datuk Lee Swee Seng, Datuk Vazeer Alam Mydin Meera, and Datuk Mohd Nazlan Ghazali.
The judges were ruling on the case of N. Sathiaseelan, who sustained injuries in an accident on a Sunday, and whether he was eligible to claim for employment injuries under Section 24(1)(a) of the Socso Act 1969, despite it being his day off.
FMT quoted Sathiaseelan’s lawyer M. Manoharan as saying the court held that the Socso Act “should be interpreted expansively and liberally in the context of corporate social responsibility”.
This effectively allows workers to travel to their workplace on weekends from their hometowns, he said.
Sathiaseelan was involved in a road accident on October 16, 2016 while on his way from his home in Ipoh to his workplace at Infineon Technologies Sdn Bhd in Kulim, Kedah, where he served as a senior technician.
Despite suffering multiple injuries and disabilities, Manoharan said his client’s application for temporary disability claims from Socso was rejected.
Sathiaseelan’s subsequent appeal was similarly rejected by the Socso board on the grounds of invalidity as he was travelling on his day off.
He then initiated legal proceedings at the Ipoh High Court where his case was dismissed, leading to his appeal at the Court of Appeal. – The Vibes, September 20, 2022
