Worker Sues And Gets $100,000

Here are excerpts from a news story in The New Paper today:

Mr Ong Kean Lim, 23, did what few foreign workers would dare to do: He said no to compensation for his injuries from the Manpower Ministry (MOM).

Instead, he took his employers to court.

And won.

He walked away with $100,000. If he had accepted the MOM assessment, he would have got only $4,410 for injuries which have affected his speech and facial muscles.

The Malaysian was lucky to survive when he fell 7m (about two-storeys high) from a platform while doing wiring work on 7 Oct, 2005.

He suffered fractures that required metal plates to be inserted in his face, and neck wounds that led to part of his thyroid gland being removed.

The MOM had assessed last year that he would get compensation of $4,410 because his degree of disability was assessed to be only 3 percent.

In September, he was awarded $100,000 in damages after his former employer Mas Power Engineering accepted 90 per cent of the blame for the accident.

Mr Ong, who was an electrician, told The New Paper: "What I got (from the court) is such a huge difference from what the MOM offered. Till today, I'm wondering if I'm dreaming."

MOM statistics show there were 14,927 work-men's compensation last year.

Accepting the MOM's assessment means the worker cannot pursue legal action against the employer.

Lawyers believe that for every 10 injured workers, at least five would sue their employer for more compensation, if they were aware of their legal rights.