panel of judges at a Central Jakarta court ruled on Monday in favor of a former contract worker – and ordered the operator of the city-owned bus rapid transit system PT Transjakarta to pay him severance fees.
Industrial Relations Court presiding judge Taryan Setiawan ordered Transjakarta to pay Dimas Catur Feby Laksono Rp 66.4 million (US$4,978) in compensation.
Dimas was fired as a contract worker in April last year for watching a movie on one of the command center monitors while on duty. He was given a warning letter, but two hours later the company retracted the letter and fired him.
“According to Law No. 13/2003 on manpower, the plaintiff deserves the severance pay because he had been an employee for more than 10 years,” Taryan said.
PT Transjakarta is also in dispute with other former employees who have filed separate lawsuits, including 13 former employees who demanded that they be re-hired as workers and be paid Rp 580 million as compensation.
Most of the employees had worked for the company as contract workers since 2004 when its legal status was that of a special public service (BLU) company. However, when it became an enterprise in 2015, PT Transjakarta reportedly did not upgrade their status to permanent workers. Thousands of other employees were kept on as contract workers.
One of the former employees, Fery Febriansyah, won his case last Wednesday as the court ordered the company to pay him Rp 73.5 million in severance fees. (dis)
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