Guide · Work · 3 min read
Dismissed without just cause or excuse
How to ask for your job back, the 60-day deadline, who can speak for you, and what happens at the Court.
In plain English · by mylaw.my · not legal advice· Law as at 30 Sep 2026
The short answer
As a workman who considers that your employer dismissed you without just cause or excuse, you can make written representations to the Director General to be reinstated in your former employment.
Industrial Relations Act s 20(1)
The Director General will not consider them unless you file them within 60 days of the dismissal.
Industrial Relations Act s 20(1A)
If the Director General is satisfied that there is no likelihood of settling them, he must refer them to the Court for an award.
On this page · 6 parts
Filing within 60 days
You can make representations whether or not you are a member of a trade union, and you can file them at the Director General's office nearest to the place you were dismissed from.
Industrial Relations Act s 20(1)
If you were dismissed with notice, you can file at any time during the notice period, but no later than 60 days after it ends.
Settling it first
Once your representations arrive, the Director General takes the steps he considers necessary or expedient to reach a quick settlement.
Industrial Relations Act s 20(2)
The Director General can direct anyone connected with the dismissal to attend a conference, and can direct you or your employer to provide information within a set time.
Industrial Relations Act s 20(8)
If you attend none of the conferences without a reasonable excuse, your representations are treated as withdrawn.
Who can speak for you
At this stage you can represent yourself, or be represented by an officer or employee of your trade union if you are a member, by an official of an organisation of workmen registered in Malaysia that is not a trade union of workmen, or by any other person you authorise in writing with the Director General's permission, as long as that person is not an advocate and solicitor.
Industrial Relations Act s 20(6)(b)
Apart from those routes, neither you nor your employer can be represented by an advocate.
At the Court
The Court acts according to equity, good conscience and the substantial merits of the case, without regard to technicalities and legal form.
Industrial Relations Act s 30(5)
It makes its award without delay and, where practicable, within 30 days from the date your case was referred to it.
Industrial Relations Act s 30(3)
In making an award on a dismissal referred to it, the Court must take into consideration the factors in the Act's Second Schedule, unless the dismissal relates to section 4, 5 or 7 of the Act.
Industrial Relations Act s 30(6A)
Where the workman has died, the Court can award backwages or compensation in lieu of reinstatement, or both, to the workman's next-of-kin.
Industrial Relations Act s 30(6B)
An award to pay money carries interest at 8% a year, or a lower rate the Court directs, from the thirty-first day after the award until it is paid. The Court can set another start date if the aggrieved party applies within 30 days of the award and the Court is satisfied that special circumstances exist.
After the award
Once an award has been made on your representations, you cannot bring an action for damages for wrongful dismissal in any court.
Industrial Relations Act s 20(4)
Anyone dissatisfied with the award can appeal to the High Court within 14 days from the date they received it.
Laws in this guide
- s 20Industrial Relations Act 1967
Explained in this guide
- s 30Industrial Relations Act 1967
Explained in this guide
- s 33CIndustrial Relations Act 1967
Explained in this guide
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