Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd was today granted leave by the Kuala Lumpur High Court to challenge the Industrial Court decision ordering the Umno-owned daily to pay arrears in bonuses of two months since 2009.

The decision was made by Justice Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim who ruled that Utusan Melayu's application is not frivolous.

"The court has fixed Sept 14 to hear the judicial review application," said Abang Iskandar.

Utusan Melayu was represented by its lawyer S Rutheran.

The Industrial Court had on May 24 ordered Utusan Melayu to pay backdated bonuses to its staff after it was found to have wrongly interpreted the definition of company profits in 2009.

The Industrial Court found that Utusan Melayu had not complied with the definition of profits as agreed by the company with its union, based on their collective agreement.

RM5 million profit

Industrial Court president Susila Sithamparam ruled the company had failed to consider the fact that as a holding company with several subsidiaries, it had posted a profit of RM5.121 million as a group.

"The respondent cannot shy away from the fact that it is a holding company and has subsidiary companies," she said.

The court held the word " keuntungan " or "profit" in article 44 of the collective agreement meant the profits which it made as a holding company in 2009.

"The union has proved the respondent (Utusan Melayu) had made profits in 2009. The court orders the respondent to comply with article 44 of the said collective agreement forthwith," Susila said.

Utusan Melayu had only paid one month bonus in 2009, resulting in the National Union of Journalists to file the action against the Umno-owned daily.