PARTI Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) lauded the Government’s decision to amend Employment Act 1955 to provide better protection towards workers; locals and migrant workers.
“After scrutinising the first reading of the amendments to the Employment Act, which was passed on Monday, we would like to congratulate the minister and his team for working hard to bring about the changes.
“While these amendments didn’t address issues such as the abuse of contract system and wage suppression which PSM has always highlighted, nevertheless, it does offer better and wider protection to our workers, as well as improving workers standards overall.
“Some of the amendment are very important and long overdue,” its deputy chairperson S Arutchelvan told FocusM.
Elaborating on the matter, Arutchelvan noted that the amendment would now provide coverage to all workers and no longer limited to those who earn RM2,000 and below.
As of now, many who earn above RM2,000 are not protected under the Act and affected parties are forced to take up their case in courts, which was too expensive.
“This amendment will allow workers to seek remedy in labour court with little hassle. Other significant point in the amendments is that it takes into account discrimination and forced labour, as well as to include provisions for maternity benefits; demands which has been long raised by many women and labour activists,” he stated.
The PSM leader also lauded the Government’s decision to increase paid maternity leave from 60 days to 90 days in the private sector, which was introduced in the civil service last year.
“The new provision in the Act also provides pregnant women with more protection from being harassed by employers. Plus, it will also allow fathers to have three days paternity leave.”
On that note, PSM also claimed a small victory after the Government decided to reduce working hours per week; from the previous 48 hours to 45 hours.
“Though PSM was looking at four-day work or 36 hours, we are satisfied that at least the amendments will allow workers more rest time,” Arutchelvan quipped.
Another safeguard included was that all employers and contractors will be required to give written contracts to their workers, failing which they can be fined up to RM50,000.
Previously verbal or oral contracts were allowed for employment which sometimes end in disputes as there is no proof on what was agreed upon.
“Another laudable amendment is that employees are no longer required to get sick leave certificates from their company’s panel clinic.
“Previously, only panel clinic sick leave certificates were allowed but there could be a problem as they contractual bound by the employers, which may be lopsided against the workers.
Migrant workers’ protection
“In fact, we even had cases where companies didn’t recognise sick leave certificates from Government health facility. With this amendment, it will allow workers to seek treatment from other hospitals or clinics as well as recognise their medical certificate,” Arutchelvan said.
In terms of legal dispute, the amendment now would allow disgruntled workers 21 days to appeal at the High Court on their contract dispute, instead of the previous two weeks.
In the current state, most affected workers were unable to file an appeal within two weeks due to constraints in raising funds and engaging lawyers.
“And it’s good that the amendment now shifts the burden of proof to the employers, leaving less bureaucratic hurdles to the affected workers.
“Overall, the current amendment also increased the penalty in section 99A of the Employment Act to increase RM10,000 to RM50,000 for any offences under the law. For offences on forced labour, a fine of RM100,000 and prison sentence is also proposed,” Arutchelvan quipped.
On migrant workers, PSM was happy that the amendment will provide more powers to the Human Resources Ministry (MOHR) director general, where employers who wish to hire foreign work force must seek the former’s approval before hand.
“It also stipulates that the director general must be informed of any sacking or termination of a migrant worker within 30 days,” Arutchelvan mentioned.
Currently, employers who have a bad record in migrant labour management are blacklisted and prevented from employing new migrant workers, with the law only requiring a company to notify MOHR after they have been employed.
Arutchelvan remarked: “PSM hopes that the new law will be passed and gazetted soon so that it can provide justice to the workers. Much of workers’ rights have been curbed over the years by the pro neoliberal Governments, especially during the first premiership of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
“Today some things were retrieved but we still have a long way to redeem the rights of our workers and the struggle continues.” – Oct 28, 2021
