14. With regard to these employees, the general rule that a failure to hold a
domestic inquiry or the holding of a defective inquiry will not automatically vitiate or nullify the dismissal still applies.
15. This was the approach taken by the Federal Court in the case of Ong Yuen Hock v Syarikat Hong Leong Assurance Sdn Bhd (1995) 2 MLJ based on
the earlier leading decision in Dreamland Corporation (M) Sdn Bhd v. Choong Chin Sooi (1988) 1 MLJ. Essentially, these decisions state that even if the domestic inquiry held was defective, it is still open to the employer to satisfy the Industrial Court that the dismissal was proper on the merits.
16. It is respectfully suggested that as a matter of good industrial practice and irrespective of which the employee is governed by the Employment Act or not, a domestic inquiry should be held whenever a complaint of misconduct is
brought to ensure that the employee is accorded fair treatment in answering the charge.
17. We shall now examine briefly the various stages of the domestic inquiry and the necessary procedures to ensure that no challenge can be successfully taken to claim the inquiry as unfair.
