An interesting real case, but to give a reasonble judgement on even suspecting

the person is a psycho is not possible by mere descriptions of the things such
person said. Noramlly a person of unsound would behave "not so normal" in the
the way he speaks, and the way how his eyes look (definitely not what he tells
others as in the case, as he could be just lying and boasting).
There could be
logical reasons for those things about the employee.
1. I agree that it is really abnormal to tell that a close one is dead, but
isn;t it logical that this may happen if there is no love or even hatred? That
someone out of venom and hatred and convenience, will tell others his wife is
dead? And for this particular case, the employee just conveniently gave a good
reason for the approval of his leave, that he could need badly, and telling that
wife passed away out of anger and venom may be the reasonable explanation.
2. The guy also conveniently accepted money from his colleagues who had doanted
out of their sympathy and voluntraily, without feeling guilty.
3. Telling others about his businesses could be merely boasting about his wealth
or capability, and I would think these are more likley lies than a menatally
unsound mind person talking. He could be lying just to convince people to do
business with him, or simply just being boastful and a braggard.
Of course all those are my conjectures, but personally I do not think this guy
is of unsound mind. He is just a guy without a moral conscience and a person of
low integrity. As for his supervisor, being sympathetic and a nice superior is
not enough, he has to learn to get the facts correctly before making a decision,
and he has to be firm to maintain discipline.
As for the Deputy Ministry comment about compulsory psychiatric testing for all
public and private employee, two of us, Jag and I had commented that it is
impossible to force private companies to do that, as there won't be manpower to
do that anyway. I persoanlly think it is quite silly and a politician just
trying to say something without thinking that such move is practically
impossible to implement. But yes, if there are acts and behaviour of employees
that could indicate that the person could be mentallly disturbed due to work
stress, then the employer may help in reducing work stress and the payment of
medical fees to the maximum limit.
Lee TG
----- Original Message ----From: Major (Rtd) Teoh
To: malaysiaHRonline@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2006 6:03 PM
Subject: Re: malaysiaHRonline: Mental health tests for workers?
Simple! Would you like to be labelled "orang gila"? It amounts to that.
I personally think there must be a limit to what we do.
All medical reports should be confidential matters and the privacy of an
individual should not be intruded.
The intention is laudable, noble and good, but the way we go about doing it
may be a little base and crude and may not be to the liking of many.
Just sharing.
Regards,
Major (Rtd) Teoh

----- Original Message ----From: Idris Yusof

To: malaysiaHRonline@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2006 5:20 PM
Subject: malaysiaHRonline: Mental health tests for workers?

Dear All HR practitioners,

There was a news article a little while ago as follows:
********************************************************************************
***
NST
27/12/2005 Mental health tests for workers
PUTRAJAYA, Mon. - Starting next year, workers in the public and private
sectors will have to undergo psychiatric tests at least once a year. They
must also take blood and urine tests. "Whether they like it or not, they
need to take the tests," Deputy Human Resources Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman
Bakar said today.
He said officials of his ministry would help employers and heads of
government departments conduct the tests.
Rahman said the psychiatric tests would identity workers suffering from
depression or "burnout", which could affect their productivity and state of
mind.
The move, he added, would help enhance professionalism and services in both
sectors.
He told the New Straits Times that those who had undergone the tests would
be issued a health card.
"With the card, their employers will know what to do in cases where
employees need help, like referring them to doctors and specialists for
observation or treatment.
"It is vital that employers and heads of department do not take for granted
the health of their workers by merely looking at their physical condition.
"From blood and urine tests, we will know the number of workers suffering
from mental disorders, HIV/ AIDS, drug and alcohol addiction, and other
ailments."
Rahman said safety and health committees must be formed at all workplaces
to ensure the tests were conducted properly.
Employers who fail to abide by the requirement may be charged under the
Employment Act 1955, which carries a fine of RM50,000 or two years' jail,
or both.
********************************************************************************
***
There wasn't any reaction from our group. How come? I think there are many
implications...
It so happens that I have a very interesting actual case that is probably
related to this matter. Here's the background... a bit of long read but try
to enjoy it!
We have a technician level staff who approached his supervisor to apply for
a few days leave. Since the work schedule was tight he was pressed for
justifications to go on leave. That's when he said his wife had passed
away. The supervisor expressed his condolences but when queried further he
was told that the death occured about 5-6 days ago on a Saturday on the
last weekend. None of his colleagues or anyone else in the commpany were
told about his wife's death. Apparently the guy went to work as usual the
Monday after the weekend. The supervisor was shocked and couldn't
understand why the news was not conveyed earlier and why the guy did not
take leave much earlier to take care of things. This technician has a young
child and nothing was ever mentioned about the wife being sick. When
pressed for further details, the story told was that his wife died of
cancer of the uterus/womb.

The supervisor was really feeling sorry and began to question himself if he
had pushed his staff to work too hard and stressed them to the max that
they were even afraid to tell him about an immediate family member who
died. Although the supervisor was a considerate leader who took pains to
know his staff's personal problems and looked into their welfare, he
thought he had not done enough...
When the news spread (thru email) within the company, many people who knew
the technician were very surprised to hear of his wife's death. Nobody knew
and nobody attended the funeral. As usual, a collection was made to donate
some money. Since it would have been obvious that the funeral proceedings
had been taken care of, arrangements were not immediately made, as would
have been done normally, to visit and pay respect to the family. The money
collected for the donation was then banked into his account (with his
agreement) since he was always working in the field and couldn't come to
the office.
But then, it's a small world after all... Soon, doubts about the
authenticity of this news began surfacing. During the recent Raya Haji
holidays, an employee happened to be in the kampung where this technician
lives. When the death of his wife was mentioned, a close relative of this
technician informed the contrary and said that the wife was fine & well,
still alive and working in a nearby factory!
To make the story short, we have officially verified that the wife is still
alive! Apparently, he was going through divorce proceedings but we were
told he and his wife have recently got back together already...
As I think most of you would agree, death is not something you joke about
or take lightly. We probably don't question or insist on immediate
verification. That is just what had happened. We believe outright what the
person had said. Perhaps only when not a close relative is involved would
we have some reservations - example if an employee says he's taking leave
to attend a cousin's funeral or something...
Anyway, further investigations & inquiries illicited some startling
revelation of this technician's behaviour! 'Stories' started filtering
in... He has been known to have insisted that he is a shareholder of some
dubious & also existing companies, owned lands entrusted by the state
ruler, gotten a huge contract to paint airplanes (!!!), bred crocodiles
(for supply of the meat to restaurants) in unused mining pools(!!!), etc...
Outrageous isn't it?!!! Did our eyes become wide in disbelief? Sure
enough! Seems like a lunatic talking or at least one fine 'kaki temberang'!
Sounds like a psycho case, doesn't it? Must have a loose screw or
something! But it fits the bill since this guy can even declare with almost
casual conviction that his wife had died.
So what would you do? My first reaction upon hearing all these 'stories' is
to be inclined to send the person for psychiatric evaluation. However, I
thought I'd better give him the benefit of doubt since he still deserves
it. He has been recalled from field work where he meets our customers
constantly. We do not know what kind of stories he could be telling them.
Well actually we have heard that he has been going around saying that he is
only working part-time with the company and that he has his own company,
etc.!
Believe it or not!
Anyway, I have just managed to talk to this person and found him to be
apparently still of sound mind & health. He admitted declaring his wife had
died and 'reasoned' that he was under a lot of stress and was facing
'inconsolable differences' with his wife since 4-5 years already. He
insisted that he meant and actually said that he had 'considered' his wife
was dead to him when asked initially by his superiors but it got out of

hand and came out eventually with him declaring that she had really died!
He couldn't really answer as to why he also came up with the story of his
wife having died of cancer, though. I told him, and he agreed, lies beget
lies and this gets perpetuated easily upon the first lie.
I have also confronted him on some of the stories circulating about his
'business adventures'. Some were denied by him while some others were
explained by him to contain some basis or elements of truth but had been
misinterpreted or got overblown by people. But he got very animated when he
was telling about his plans and 'attempts' at business. I would have to
admit I did feel a bit uneasy when I noticed he started to foam at the
corners of his mouth as he spoke with fervor!!! (arghhh!... I do actually
have a madman here!). I can tell you I was watching this guy like an eagle
(and using whatever knowledge that I had learnt in college when I took
those 100 level courses in psychology!) to try my best to 'see through'
him....
Should a case like this warrant a psychiatric evaluation to determine the
mental state/health of the person?
I know we HR practitioners are not psychiatrists or psychologists although
I think sometimes we have to act like one. Similarly in medical cases it is
quite often you would probably have to play the role of a doctor or nurse
too. Don't you all agree?
What would you do then in this particular case?
Idris MY
HRM Marconi Malaysia