Priyantha Serasundara vs. N.H.S. Gamini – SC APPEAL 97/2018-2025

In the case between employees and their Trade Union (Petitioner-Appellants) and Maliban Biscuit Manufactories Limited, the Commissioner General of Labour, Minister of Labour and Labour Relations, and the Industrial Arbitrator (Respondents), the Supreme Court addressed whether the termination of employment of approximately 558 workmen was justified or if the employees had voluntarily vacated their posts. The central legal issue pertained to the legal distinction between employer-initiated termination and abandonment of employment by the employees in the context of industrial protest action regarding bonus payment disputes under a Collective Agreement. The Court held that the employees’ deliberate and sustained absence following lawful requests to return to work, combined with a clear intent