Federal Court rejects former Seacera executive's bid to appeal

The Federal Court has dismissed former Seacera executive Ismail Othman's application for leave to appeal, leaving the Court of Appeal ruling against him intact.

Ismail was also ordered to pay RM50,000 in costs to Seacera Properties Sdn Bhd.

A three-judge panel chaired by Justice Abu Bakar Jais unanimously held that the four questions of law posed by Ismail did not meet the threshold under Section 96 of the Courts of Judicature Act 1964 for the matter to be brought before the Federal Court. Also on the panel were Justices Nazlan Ghazali and Azimah Omar.

Leave to appeal to the Federal Court is generally granted only where a case raises novel questions of law or the Constitution that carry public interest.

The decision means the Court of Appeal's Feb 12 judgment, which set aside a High Court decision in Ismail's favour, stands.

Delivering the Court of Appeal decision, Justice Azhahari Kamal Ramli said documentary evidence showed Ismail had been appointed by Seacera Group Bhd (SGB) before being placed at its subsidiary, Seacera Properties.

Azhahari, who sat with Justices Ahmad Kamal Shahid and Evrol Mariette Peters, said the evidence showed SGB was the party that appointed Ismail and had the authority to issue a show-cause letter and terminate his services.

The Court of Appeal also ruled that the High Court had erred in applying the principle that each company has a separate legal identity to hold that Ismail's dismissal was invalid. The High Court had earlier upheld the Industrial Court's finding that Ismail was constructively dismissed and awarded him compensation in lieu of reinstatement.

According to the facts of the case, Ismail joined SGB before being transferred to Seacera Properties in 2014 as project director and adviser for the company's property division. In March 2019, he signed a fixed-term employment contract with Seacera Properties.

He was subsequently suspended and issued a show-cause letter over four allegations of misconduct. Ismail declined to respond, taking the position that SGB was not his employer and had no authority to take disciplinary action against him.

SGB then warned that disciplinary action would be taken if he did not comply with the suspension order, and informed him that he remained subject to SGB's authority as he worked for a subsidiary of the group.

After Ismail refused to attend the internal inquiry, SGB found him guilty of misconduct on Oct 8, 2019 and terminated his services. Ismail later wrote to the company saying he considered himself constructively dismissed with effect from Oct 21, 2019.

Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud, Auzan Hasanuddin Sazali and Marwan Abdullah represented Seacera Properties, while Ismail was represented by Aneera Joshini Chowdhury, Manmohan Singh Kang and Lu Yiing Suey.