KETUA PENGARAH PERTUBUHAN KESELAMATAN SOSIAL v AHMAD IZZAT FARHAN BIN ROSELAN

Case Significance

Illustrates the elements that must be satisfied before an injury sustained in an employer-organised sporting event will qualify as an "employment injury" under section 2(6) of the Employees' Social Security Act 1969, and that participation supported by the employer does not by itself bring the injury within the definition.

This High Court decision at Shah Alam is an appeal by the Director-General of the Social Security Organisation against a decision of the Social Security Appellate Board. The respondent, a technician employed by a utility company, had taken part in a futsal tournament organised by his employer and was injured, undergoing surgery and a period of medical leave. He applied for temporary disablement benefits, which the Social Security Organisation rejected on the ground that the injury did not satisfy the definition of an employment injury under section 2(6) of the Employees' Social Security Act 1969. The respondent appealed to the Social Security Appellate Board, which allowed his appeal, treating the injury as an employment injury on the footing that his participation in the employer-organised tournament was supported by, and amounted to a task authorised by, the employer. On the Social Security Organisation's further appeal, the High Court took a different view. It held that the Board had committed an error when it disregarded the elements required to establish an employment injury, as identified in the authorities, and that on the facts the respondent had failed to fulfil the elements of the definition in section 2(6) of the Act. The injury sustained in the futsal tournament was accordingly not an employment injury entitling the respondent to temporary disablement benefits. The court allowed the appeal. The court's reasoning underscores that not every injury suffered by an employee while engaged in an activity connected with work is an employment injury; the statutory definition sets specific elements that must be established, an employer's encouragement or organisation of a recreational event does not, without more, convert an injury sustained in it into a compensable employment injury, and the burden of bringing the injury within section 2(6) rests on the claimant. The judgment is a useful illustration of the elements that must be satisfied before an injury sustained in an employer-organised sporting event will qualify as an employment injury under section 2(6) of the Employees' Social Security Act 1969.