Thursday, December 17, 2009


No such thing as 'conditional resignation'



Dr Daphne Loke
Thursday, 17 December 2009 08:11

COMMENT Resignation from any position, whether it is by way of employment or appointment is a means for an action of voluntary separation from the organisation, or business entity. In the case of the 13 MCA Central Committee members, I would like to analyse the issue as follows:-

First, what is the procedure of resignation of CC members provided in the party constitution? I did a pdf search on the party constitution for the term “conditional resignation”. The result was zero.

Organisations such as some agencies under the United Nations specifically states inside the Employment Handbook:-
“Conditional Resignations will not be accepted. Any conditional resignation will be returned to the employee.”

With others, conditional resignations are acceptable provided they follow prescribed procedures for achieving the stated objectives for which they were granted.

wong foon hon.jpgBy the recent media announcements, the MCA secretary-general Wong Foon Meng had formulated a prescribed format for these resignations and they were for the purpose of effecting a re-election of the CC. The crucial question to ask here is whether the resignations were made on these prescribed formats, or did the 13 CC members designed their own format?

Rejected in the US

Next, I would like to look at how governments look at conditional resignations. Canadian Service categorically spelt out that condition resignation is a resignation IF stated conditions were accepted. The employer is not entitled to accept just the resignation and reject the conditions. In short, the act of resignation and the conditions cannot be treated as separated.

The US outright rejects a conditional resignation as a form of resignation. A lawyer of the Centre for Constitutional Rights in New York said, “…a forced resignation is not a valid resignation, and when it is conditional, it is even less of a resignation”.

The UK industrial law authorities look at it differently. In a 2001 Employment Appeal Tribunal case, the employee submitted to his employers a resignation letter conditional that the employer were to halt ongoing disciplinary proceedings against him as well as to pay him compensation for loss of office (the job) to be detailed in a compromise agreement to be effected a few days later. His employer officially accepted his resignation the same day. When dispute over the compromise agreement arose, the employee brought a case of unfair dismissal against the employer.

At the Employment Appeal Tribunal presided by a QC and two other judges, it was decided that the employee’s resignation took effect as soon as the employer accepted it and that the employee was not coerced in into submitting his resignation.

No resignation at all

Worthy to note is the argument that the employee’s resignation, albeit worded as “conditional”, was a condition precedent for the employer to halt disciplinary proceedings against him.

In line with US authority, conditional resignation is no resignation at all. The cited Canadian law cannot be applied here as the condition (re-election) is remote and not within the control of the 13 CC members.

Today, UK case law still has considerable influence in the Malaysian courts. Taking this line of thought, we need to examine the sequence of events : the resignations come first or the re-election? I tend to agree with the above UK case that the resignations of the 13 CC members is a condition precedent to the re-election.

Therefore, when with pomp and fanfare, the 13 CC members handed over their conditional resignations over to the secretary-general of MCA at the Parliament House Tuesday morning, and the sec-gen had signed acceptance of those resignations, the MCA Central Committee should officially endorse acceptance of their resignations. This I recommend.

Dr Daphne Loke holds an MBA with Specialisation in Human Resource Management and is a senior lecturer for HRM at Masters level.

34 comments:

  1. Dr Daphne inter alia wrote,

    Therefore, when with pomp and fanfare, the 13 CC members handed over their conditional resignations over to the secretary-general of MCA at the Parliament House Tuesday morning, and the sec-gen had signed acceptance of those resignations, the MCA Central Committee should officially endorse acceptance of their resignations. This I recommend.

    AGREED!

    The date can be stamped on their letters.

    So the CC in its next meeting MUST exclude these 13 stooges, and delibrate on their resignations with a view to approve their resignations--as it is fully empowered by the MCA Constitution to so decide....

    The quorum of this CC meeting: At least 12/17 members only!

    LTL & Co are checkmated.

    AIXIN

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  2. To cut the crap short, please state if CC members, oterh than the 13, want to resign, to make way for re-election, or not!!! Simple as that. This blog is trying to blur the focus. Just simple YES or NO. Do not debate otehr things, this is typical of MCA.

    These CC memebrs, otehr than the 13, are the fence sitters as I see them. no backbone or they are waiting for people to offer them some thing in return for the resignation.

    What kind of leaders are these!!

    Shame on you the 17 CC members who have not made up decisions. Waitng quietly in a corner hopefully otehr make decision which benefits them.

    LA

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  3. Dear LA LTL with the 13 CCMs are the minority who have been trying to force a fresh election. The others too have their stand and principle which have to be respected.

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  4. LTL & Co do not appear to be so stupid. They may set a trap for the current leadership to accept their resignations...so that they can start another round of "SOAP OPERA" spearheaded by the Qing Dong Yee Ni --WKS & CMF....

    I suggest the leadership simply ignore these resignation letters as "NO RESIGNATION". Treat these 13 CC members with BIG HEART.

    We take pity on these 13 because their fate is hanging like the truck in the Chinese bridge (as show by Sdra Justice4otk in his earlier posting)!

    Axed-Journalist.

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  5. What Bro' LAW ENFORCER stated above in reply to Bro' LA is TRUE.

    Bro' LA said:"...These CC memebrs, otehr than the 13, are the fence sitters as I see them. no backbone or they are waiting for people to offer them some thing in return for the resignation."

    Bro' LA: You are blaming others who are in the MAJORITY!

    Where got road (mana ada jalan)? hahahaha

    XIAO SEE LANG

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  6. kalau betul-betul mau resign, talok shj itu date. habislah cerita.buat apa mau syarat-syarat ini. INI 13 CC BETUL-BETUL TORTOISE.

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  7. BRO LA,

    Kalau tidak minat blog ini, pergi jauh jauh la, jangan buat komen-komen yg bodoh di sini.

    Peminat dan pengikut blog ini.

    ReplyDelete
  8. What Chua Soi Lek and Ong Tee Keat should do is to tender their "conditional resignations" as well, on the condition that Liow Tiong Lai and his FGZ gang MUST FIRST resign their parliamentarian seats, their cabinet positions and their MCA memberships.

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  9. Once the CC discussed the Conditional Resignation Letter with duly acceptance, they are EMBARGO to perform the duty as MCA CC until the conditional resignation is verified by ROS , Party Legal Advisor and Court Proceeding. As long as no body could justify the " Conditional Resignation Letter " ,those 13 CC are embargoed to perform the duty of MCA Central Delegates. The verdict is automatically gone while the term of office bearer is completed . So the judgement is fair and respect the party constitution.

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  10. Aiya, you guys !!

    As I said in an above message, LTL has taken the first move, and lay down his demands.

    It's time you make your own demands !

    It's a game that you guys are winning, but unfortunately, you guys just couldn't understand how to play this game !

    It is not about law or constitution or what. It's a straight move to checkmate LTL and his FGZ gang, and once and for all, wipe them out !

    State down all your objectives now, and make them your demands.

    You guys want LTL and FGZs to be out of MCA, right?

    State that in your demands !

    You guys want LTL and FGZs to become unemployed, right?

    State that TOO !

    They have sent in their CONDITIONAL RESIGNATION LETTERS so if you send in your CONDITIONAL RESIGNATION LETTERS now, you guys have a perfect alibi --- they did it first, we merely copy it from them !

    So, Chua Soi Lek and Ong Tee Keat, send in YOUR conditional resignation letters with the demands that LTL and FGZs must FIRST resign from their parliamentarian / senator seats, PLUS resign from all their cabinet positions, PLUS resign from MCA and state in black and white they WILL NEVER COME BACK TO MCA, FOREVER !!

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  11. The majority will stand tall not to resign.Just keep the standard resignation letters.

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  12. LTL and the gang cannot do anything, they are the minority, just accept the GUP for the majority have signed in black and white dated and approved.

    Happy New MCA transformed to heal unite and serve

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  13. GUP is the option to unite, heal and serve. Let the minority act and scream. We see not. We hear not.

    So Chai.
    Goa Men Ti, goa men ti,........

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  14. What is GUP? Where is the GUP task force?

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  15. LTL and gang has been trying to derail GUP. The so chai gang has been doing its upmost to upset everything. Too much interference by the deliquents for the party to stay focuss.

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  16. Bloody hell! Why must the Sec Gen go to the parliament house to accept the conditional resignatation letters. He had behaved wrongly. Why did he do that? Can someone question him.
    Why is he so accomodating to the 13 dogs.
    Patliament house, indeed.

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  17. OTK play play so all the president's men also play play lah....simple as that....

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  18. One other thing which I noted that many did NOT bring up this point , and that is that fat pig did not attend the PC cum resignation . He was prominently Missing in Action .

    From what I have been told and come to be aware of is that he ( the fat pig ) and brutus are now at logger heads . He doesn't agree to the " conditional retirement " sorry conditional resignation that brutus wanted to safeguard his Hell Minister . He wanted an out right resignation , suddenly found his balls hanging around his neck and decided to put back in the rightful place .

    Its either that or he decided to do a David Copperfield act by disappearing without been seen or

    He must have learnt the art of staying invisible from H G Wells .

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  19. We can not ignore the minority. If the same logic applies, UMNO can dump you guys what.

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  20. I can see that some "ti ko liang ti ko cho" CC members fall into the group those who have not resigned. It is a matter of time they throw in the towel.

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  21. The fat pig is pushing from behind. He is doing a "do as I say but don't do as I do thing". He is a fat coward.

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  22. Bro' ANON 10:09 wrote,

    "We can not ignore the minority. If the same logic applies, UMNO can dump you guys what."

    Your "LOGIC" does not apply here.

    No one ignores the minority!

    In MCA, it is apparent that the Minority is attempting to use unconstitutional means to wrest control of the leadership....

    In Umno there are many factions also: Besides Najib, you will notice the minority factions led by Pak Lah-KJ-Azmi Khalid; Tengku Razaleigh; Tun Dr. M; Musa Aman; Muhyiddin etc.. The minority factions always keep quiet and follow the President -whether or not they like him....

    In BN, MCA is also a minority. But there is no reason for BN to dump MCA, because MCA (more or less) toe the BN policies....

    AXED-JOURNALIST.

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  23. As an MCA member I have to respect the Constitution and also abide by my Pledge i.e. Follow our Leader and Protect our Motherland. If we do not follow our leadership, how can we expect our members to obey/follow us. Very Simple Logic. If LTL does not respect the President, Deputy President, Central Committee, Special Committee, how does he expects fellow members to respect and follow him.

    Further the remaining majority 17 CC members are elected by delegates. Please do not discount them.

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  24. Anon 10.09
    You are barking at the wrong tree. Axed Journalist is 100% correct.
    MCA is registered with the ROS and the Party has her constitution to be abided by her members.

    When you talk about UMNO and the Barisan they are bound by different understandings which they have subscribed as allies.

    When you talk about Malaysians as the citizens of the country we follow the Federal Constitution and the country is also a member of United Nation and its Charter is to be respected.

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  25. Only resignation on the agreed standard format should be accepted by the sec-gen. Anyrhing else should go into the wastepaper basket. There should be no compromise on this.

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  26. Yes, official standard form only to be accepted so that MCA is not played about like cartoon!

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  27. You people are all wrong talking about ignoring the minority wishes for fresh polls. This is not the point. The point is the honour/dignity of MCA. If there is fresh poll according to minority call with pressure from outside then MCA doesn't exist. If you want to have election then not in Jan, February/March but in your own terms perhaps in June onwards. This is to show MCA has guts to manage its own things/matters in its own ways in its own time and what manner by whom and subject to its own constitution and not influenced by uaseless gags and KT and whatever form of bully/kowtow or even listening to minority views. Who is empowered to make decision. Don't forget as you argue about fresh election and valid/invalid resignation you must think of the health and limb of the party not yourselves. The chinese community put alot of stakes in those running MCA and pls do not recoil from your duty by coward submission to whoever/whatever the power that be. Don't lose focus - no fresh polls until further notice and in MCA party's own terms. GETITRIGHT

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  28. We Chinese always have forget & forgive altitudes towards something which changing from worse to bad, big to small or unstable to unity. So today only the minority & ex-leaders crying for re-election. While we look at the majority team are working towards stable & unity, why have some 3rd parties still query the dignity , solidality or credibility of the party ? They don't like MCA under OTK leadership , they are in trouble by CORRUPTION or they like the DATO ship if OTK is not in helm ?

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  29. Industrial case law in Malaysia takes the Date of Receipt as the date of an undated Letter of Resignation. Ask any Human Resource Manager.

    Dr. Daphne Loke

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  30. JUSTICE FOR ALL12/19/2009 10:37:00 AM

    J4OTK

    Is Kalambong ok? Haven't heard from for quite a while.

    ReplyDelete
  31. JUSTICE FOR ALL12/19/2009 10:38:00 AM

    J4OTK

    Is Kalambong ok? Haven't heard from him for quite a while.

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  32. JUSTICE FOR ALL

    I don't know , haven't been able to contact him .
    Unusual of him to be totally missing in action . Hope he is Ok .

    Say kalambong why don't you post something to say you're OK !

    ReplyDelete
  33. Dr. Daphne Loke

    Thank you for the posting . Am not able to register in your website .

    ReplyDelete
  34. The rest of the MCA CC members can also send in resignation letters, undated and with conditions that their resignation will be effective when LTL, WKS, CMF, WML promise to not seek re-election in the coming EGM of MCA and that both the MCA Youth and Women setions would also stand down and go for fresh election.

    What a conditional resignation??!!

    Mana boleh.

    ReplyDelete

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