The issue arose when Maybank filed 5 defamation suits against NUBE and 5 other individuals including the Union’s General Secretary for defamation due to the publication of a flyer and articles on the union website in 2011.
These 5 suits were heard by different High Court in Shah Alam, Johor Baru and Kuala Lumpur. Maybank succeeded in obtaining judgment in its favour from the High Court in Shah Alam and Johor Bharu, but not in the case heard in Kuala Lumpur.
Subsequently, both the parties made an appeal to the Court of Appeal where the cases were consolidated and heard together. It was the Court of Appeal ruling in August 2016 that the flyer and the articles in the union website were published pursuant to a “trade dispute” between NUBE and Maybank at the material time, and therefore NUBE and its officers were conferred with absolute immunity from the tort of libel.
Section 22(1) of the Trade Union Act provides that “A suit against a registered trade union or against any members or officers thereof on behalf of themselves and all other members of the trade union in respect of any tortious act alleged to have been committed by or on behalf of the trade union shall not be entertained by any court.”
Maybank then filed applications for leave to appeal to the Federal Court against the decisions of the Court of Appeal. However, the Federal Court had on 3.7.2017 unanimously dismissed the bank’s applications for leave with cost.
This is a landmark decision and it has far reaching implications on industrial relations.