Sacked driver sues public bus firm

Sacked driver sues public bus firm

JAKARTA (JP): A bus driver is suing the state-owned bus
company management, PPD, for firing him after being involved in
an accident last year.

Yance Runtu, who started working for PPD in 1973, asked the
company to revoke his dismissal, demanded that his name be
cleared, and that he be given back pay since September last year
until a final court decision is reached.

Both PPD management and Yance presented evidence in the form
of documents to the team of judges led by Judge Marina Sidabutar
at the Jakarta State Administrative Court yesterday.

In an indictment filed by lawyers from the Jakarta Legal Aid
Institute, Yance said that on Jan. 6 last year he admitted the
bus to the bus service station for mechanical trouble. After
repairs the bus was declared fit for operation.

Three days later, however, the bus' steering wheel came off
when Yance was driving through Jalan Raya Bogor in East Jakarta,
causing him to lose control of the bus and hit minibuses and a
house, injuring several people.

A mechanic who arrived at the site after the accident
diagnosed a mechanical failure in the steering wheel.

After the accident, Yance was grounded. In August last year,
Yance was notified by the company that he would be fired soon but
he was advised at the same time to submit a plea that he should
not be fired.

On Sept. 4, however, Yance was fired, and told in a notice
that he had committed a severe violation and that therefore his
allowance and severance pay would not be granted. Yance's salary
was Rp 143,990.

Yance told The Jakarta Post that it has been difficult for him
to find witnesses willing to testify in court, because they were
all frightened of possible sanctions by the company.

The court hearing was adjourned until next Wednesday. (14)