Yuri was a manager in the Business Development Division of Syarikat Greentech. In the beginning, she was a star performer in the company. She always got good ratings in the annual appraisal exercises and the company even awarded her two monthly bonuses for her role in securing a high-value contract.

Things begin to change when a new Vice President, Chong Hwa was appointed to head her division. For some unknown reasons, Chong Hwa seems to dislike Yuri.

In December 2020, Yuri underwent the year-end appraisal as usual. Her immediate superior gave her a rating of 3.85 which is above expectations. However, when the rating was escalated to the next level, Yuri was angry to know that her rating had been adjusted to 2.90 or below expectation.

She found out that Chong Hwa had instructed her rating to be reduced based on a comparison with other employees in the company. Yuri strongly objected to this as calibration of marks by comparing an employee with her peers is unfair and unreasonable due to the different nature and scope of work of each employee.

Subsequently, due to her being rated below 3.00, Yuri was put on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) for a period of three months starting in February 2021. During the PIP she was required to complete two rounds of assessment and submit reports of her progress. Yuri voiced her concern about the assessment because the company had appointed her Assistant Manager to do the review. Yuri claimed that this is purposely done to undermine her authority as a manager and to humiliate her among her colleagues. Nevertheless, the company insist that they have full rights to determine how any assessment or PIP should be carried out. Despite her objection, Yuri completed the PIP as ordered.

June 2021, Yuri was told that she had been transferred to the Corporate Communication Division where she is to head a Media Relation Unit. The new job basically requires her to only monitor news about the company and prepare press statements, a job that Yuri argued can easily be done by a junior executive and does not match her experience and qualifications. Thus, she claimed the company is demoting her. The company however stated that the transfer is meant to add new skills to Yuri as the company has plans to establish a Corporate Strategy Unit for her to head. The transfer cannot be a demotion as her position is still a manager and her salary and benefits remained unchanged.

Despite everything, Yuri continued working for Syarikat Greentech until the middle of July 2021. She said she wanted to wait and see whether there is any evidence that the company really intends to set up the Corporate Strategy Unit. She was miserable in her new position, especially when she found that she now missed so many corporate meetings and power lunches that she was often invited to when she was in Business Development Unit. She felt that the company purposely excluded her from these events to signal that she is no longer welcome in the company and should resign.

Towards the end of July 2021, Yuri decided to leave the company. But as luck has it, an old friend contacted her saying that his company is looking for a manager to head their new office and wanted to offer the job to Yuri. Yuri readily accepted the offer.

The next day she wrote a long letter detailing all the unfairness that she was subjected to while working in Greentech and that she considers herself constructively dismissed since there is no more trust and confidence between her and the company. She emailed the letter to her Senior Manager and left the company. A week later Yuri filed a complaint at the Industrial Relations Office.

Question:

Based on what you have learned in class about constructive dismissal and the principles established by case laws, discuss whether Yuri would be successful in her constructive dismissal claim against Syarikat Greentech.

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

Constructive dismissal is a situation in which an employee is forced to leave their job because of their employers conduct which makes the employees j... View the full answer