COMPANY has been awarded $41.60 - after seeking damages of more
than $1.2 million from a 21-year-old woman who allegedly breached
her employment contract.
TWO SIDES
The firm's version - ISO Promotions considered Miss Sherry Ng
'uniquely suited' for the job.
It claimed that the search for the woman's replacement took up a
lot of the company's time.
The defendant's version - Miss Sherry Ng said that she was just a
fresh graduate with no sales and marketing experience. She added
that it was amazing that, in the current economic climate, the
company could not find a replacement in more than five
months.
The amount is what it paid to place a job advertisement to fill her
post, in the classified section of The Straits Times.
Last October, the company, ISO Promotions, a publicity consultancy,
offered Miss Sherry Ng a job as a sales and marketing
executive.
Miss Ng, who had graduated six months earlier with a diploma, was
to start work on Oct 21 and was to be paid a basic salary of
$1,800.
But she did not turn up.
In December, the company's lawyers sent her a letter asking her to
pay $5,400, which was supposed to be three months' salary in lieu
of notice.
She did not pay.
In January this year, the company took her to court, claiming she
had breached her employment contract and asked for $5,400, which it
said it was entitled to under Clause 7 of the agreement.
But Miss Ng's lawyer, Mr Andrew Hanam, argued that she had not
started work and was never an employee of the company. So, the
clause did not apply.
In any case, he added, the clause was ambiguous.
The company applied for summary judgment, which is a decision made
by a judge based on the affidavits submitted by both parties.
A district judge ruled in April that Miss Ng should pay damages,
and said these would be assessed at a later date.
However, he also ruled that the clause in question - which states
that Miss Ng has to pay the company three months' salary if her
contract is terminated - did not apply, as she had never started
work.
The company later asked for damages of $1.2 million - for wasting
its time looking for Miss Ng's replacement, for placing a job ad in
May for someone to fill the post and for the projected loss of
revenue that Miss Ng would have generated.
Its publicity consultant, Ms Loych Lee, said in her affidavit that
she considered Miss Ng 'uniquely suited' for the job.
She claimed that the search for the woman's replacement was a
lengthy process, which involved considerable time and effort.
Six interviews were held and no suitable candidate for the job was
found, she said.
Miss Ng said in her affidavit that while she was flattered the
company considered her to be exceptional, she did not see herself
in the same light.
She had just graduated with an advanced diploma in mass
communications and had no sales and marketing experience.
The company must have interviewed other people last October, she
added, and could have called one of them to fill the
position.
She said it was amazing that, in the current economic climate, the
company could not find another person in more than five months to
fill a position paying $1,800 a month to a diploma holder.
She asked the court to award zero damages to the company.
Last week, the court threw out the company's claim for $1.2 million
and ordered Miss Ng to pay ISO Promotions $41.60 for the job
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