Vijayan Venugopal

Vijayan Venugopal is a Partner at Shearn Delamore & Co., serving as Head of the Employment & Industrial Relations practice. He specialises in Employment Law, handling labour disputes, industrial relations, collective bargaining, trade disputes, contracts of service, restructuring, retrenchment, occupational health and safety, and administrative law matters.

Vijayan has conducted hearings at all levels of the judicial hierarchy, from the Labour Court and Industrial Court to the High Court, Court of Appeal, and Federal Court. Notable matters include successfully defending Malaysia Airlines before the Federal Court in the landmark Beatrice Fernandez v Malaysian Airlines case, where he argued that the Federal Constitution does not extend its provisions to infringements by a corporate entity. He also convinced the Industrial Court in decisions for the Marriott Group that service charge could be used to "top-up" wages to meet the minimum wage—a significant departure from established precedent with major implications for the hotel industry. In a landmark Federal Court decision, he successfully argued that foreign nationals' continued employment being subject to work permits is not a material consideration in determining whether an employment contract is permanent, and that successively renewed contracts without breaks constitute permanent employment.

Vijayan holds an LL.B (Hons) from the London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London, an LL.M from the University of Malaya, and is a Barrister-at-Law of the Middle Temple. He was called to the Bar of England & Wales in 1993, admitted as an Advocate & Solicitor of the High Court of Malaya in 1994, and also admitted as an Advocate & Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Singapore in 1997.

He is a member of the Employment and Industrial Law Committee of the Malaysian Bar Council and the Employment & Industrial Relations Committee of the International Bar Association.