PREFERENCE RIGHTS GUARANTEE FOR WORKERS AFTER COMPANY BANKRUPTCY

Abstract

This research aims to theoretically discover the prioritization of employee rights in companies that have been declared bankrupt based on the Ruling of the Panel of Judges in the District Court and to legally analyze the legal recourse for Workers against Bankrupt Companies that cannot fulfill their obligations.

This research uses the Welfare State Theory by Utrecht, the Legal Protection Theory by I.H. Hijmans, and the Privilege Theory by J. Satrio to address the legal issues of this research. The research methods used are normative juridical and doctrinal juridical, which are prescriptive in nature, employing the Statute approach, Conceptual approach, and Case approach, namely Bankruptcy Decision Number 89/PDT.SUS-PKPU/2015/PN.NIAGA.JKT.PST; Judges' Decision Number 1565K/Pdt.Sus-PHI/2022.      The difference with the previous research : (1) Aditya Noviansyah’s research that PT. Perindustrian Njonja Meneer, which was declared bankrupt by PN Semarang on August 3, 2017, with decision number 11/Pdt.Sus-Pailit/2017/PN.Niaga Smg. However, the position of employees is still neglected, making them weak in the eyes of the law, even though they are protected by Article 95 paragraph (4) of the Labor Law. PT. Perindustrian Njonja Meneer neglects its responsibilities towards employees even though the company has been declared bankrupt; (2) Maryana's research that in commercial court decisions adjudicating cases related to the protection of workers' rights, if the company where they work goes bankrupt, the issue is that there are still several perspectives in deciding a bankruptcy case in commercial court that often lead to controversies and biases that tend to harm workers' rights, in this case, there must be clear legal protection.

The findings of this research indicate that employee rights against a bankrupt company are preferential receivables. Although preferential rights are guaranteed by law, the settlement of employee rights depends on the value of the company's assets. Legal efforts to guarantee employee rights involve government intervention as a mediator and determining the capabilities of the curator.