Malay Indians win case against boss

Forty-eight workers have won a case they filed against their Malaysian employer for breach of contract.

After a wait of almost three years, a group of 48 Indian workers have won a case they filed against their Malaysian employer for breach of contract.

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The Federal Court upheld the findings of lower courts which had ruled in favour of the workers and asked the employer Chin Well Fasteners, based in Prai, to pay them.

Each worker is entitled to between RM8,000 (Rs 96,000) and RM25,000 (Rs 3 lakh), depending on his length of service.

The workers had sued the company for breach of contract in 2003 where they claimed that the employer paid them only RM350 a month although their contract stated that their basic salary would be RM750 plus benefits.

Hundreds of Indian workers who come to Malaysia with high salary expectations land here to realise that their job agents have duped them. Often what is stated on the contract is never paid when the worker reaches here.

The High Court ruled in favour of workers the same year and ordered the company to pay each of them a minimum monthly salary of RM750. Chin Well appealed to the Court of Appeal and lost.

The matter was taken to the Federal Court and Federal Court judges unanimously upheld the Court of Appeal's decision.