“Should I Fire an Employee Who Takes MC but Was Seen Shopping in a Mall?” M’sians Give Different Opinions

Recently, job recruitment agency Ricebowl posted an anonymous question on its Facebook account, and prompted a lot of different responses from Malaysian netizens.

The post states: “I’m an HR (human resource worker) and an employee took MC (sick) leave for being sick, only to have another coworker seeing him/her on Insta story buying clothes at Sunway Velocity mall during work hours. The coworker then comes blabbing to me about it, can I fire that employee for faking sick in this situation?”

According to the professional and official response from Ricebowl, if the company does not have conclusive evidence in order to prove that the sick leave slip is false, and there is no direct proof that the employee was pretending to be sick even if he/she is seen shopping in a mall, then the company does not have a favourable reason to fire the employee.

The post also garnered many different opinions from Malaysian netizens. One comment stated:

“The Insta story can be not on the same day itself, right?”

Another user said, “Don’t be too heartless as a person, I believe that as an HR, you will also take MC to go shopping one day”.

Some users also said that the clinic could be in Sunway Velocity.

A comment stated, “There are different kinds of illnesses, be it a mental or physical problem, it needs to be seen by a doctor as well.”.

“Fever, headache, or cough, one is also allowed to go shopping. There is no rule that you must be hospitalized and lie in bed when you are sick.” said another user.

A netizen said that as long as the MC provided is legal, the employee has the right to take a day off sick leave however he/she wants. Many also said that just because someone is taking sick leave, that does not mean that they cannot go out of the house. 

Some users remind the HR that HR is also just an employee, so there’s no right to fire someone; while some state that one should be careful when following or being followed by a colleague on Instagram.

What do you think about this? Let us know in the comments!

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