A veteran insurance agent who was an agency leader within his company’s network of agents is suing his former employer, Prudential Assurance Co Singapore, for wrongful termination.
See Jen Sen worked for Prudential for 19 years before his agency agreement was terminated in March 2022.
Mr See alleges that the termination came about because he blew the whistle on Prudential’s alleged malpractice in its business to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
Mr See is suing Prudential for wrongful termination, unjust enrichment and a claim under the Unfair Contract Terms Act.
Prudential applied to strike out Mr See’s claims entirely and succeeded partially – an assistant registrar on the case struck out two of the claims, leaving the wrongful termination claim.
Mr See then appealed against the striking out and succeeded in a judgment made available on Thursday (Mar 21). This means he will be allowed to pursue all three claims against Prudential at trial.
He is represented by Mr Ragbir Singh Ram Singh Bajwa from Bajwa & Co, while Prudential is represented by Ms Joleen Wong Ying from JWS Asia Law.
THE WHISTLEBLOWING INQUIRY
According to the judgment, Mr See was the subject of an inquiry by a compliance committee set up by Prudential before his termination.
He was suspected of sending complaints under various pen names to MAS and the chief executive officer of Prudential, accusing Prudential of malpractice.
This refers particularly to the launching of allegedly misleading advertisements of insurance products that contravened MAS guidelines.
Mr See did not deny that he was responsible for these complaints, but his counsel referred to them as the whistleblowing acts.
Mr See alleged that there was a breach of contract when his agency agreement was wrongfully terminated.
The termination was in fact grounded in his whistleblowing acts, which is not a legitimate reason to terminate his contract, Mr See alleged.
He also alleged that Prudential had been “unjustly enriched” by the financial benefits it retained from terminating his agreement.
This refers to bonus payments Mr See was entitled to under an incentive scheme called the “Agency Leader Long-Term Incentive Scheme” and bonus commissions under the “Sell-Out scheme”.
The conditions for receiving these bonus payments and commissions are set out in documents circulated to the agents, and form the basis of Mr See’s third claim – that some conditions breach the Unfair Contract Terms Act.
Prudential’s lawyers, on the other hand, say that the termination was lawfully made and that Mr See was given notice of his termination.
Justice Choo Han Teck explained in his judgment that it is best “not to fetter” the hands of the trial judge, who will have to hear the claim for wrongful termination “in any event”.
“In order to do justice in full, he must be allowed to decide what reliefs or remedies a claimant seeks,” said Justice Choo, adding that the issues ought to be ventilated as part of the full narrative at trial.
The trial will take place at a later date.
CNA
