Kuala Lumpur, June 25: A Malaysian firm has appealed against a high court judgement directing it to pay 52 Indian workers all wages it had promised to them, their air fares and legal costs. Penang High Court Judge Kamalanathan Ratnam had on June 20 directed Malaysian company Chin Well Fasteners Co Sdn to honour the promises made to the immigrant workers and pay all the arrears due to them within a week.

The workers had been paid RM 350 (approximately Rs 4,600) a month but the court ruled that the firm was obligated to pay them RM 750 (approximately Rs 10,000) a month along with other standard perks. The judge also said the firm must pay for their air fare to and from Malaysia and reimburse them the fee of around USD 1,000 paid to a recruitment agent.

The judge had asked the counsel of the Indian workers for estimates about the amount due to each worker.

The counsel said the company owes a total of RM 800,000 (approx Rs 1.04 crore), including RM 300,000 (Rs 39 lakh) exemplary damages which depends entirely on the discretion of the judge, to all the workers. Each worker is to be paid around RM 17,000 (Rs 221,000) including RM 5,000 (Rs 65,000) as exemplary damages, a counsel said adding that "we will place these figures before the court soon."

Bureau Report