Employers should not be faulted when individual workers request to work overtime on their own accord.

“In fact, there are some (private workers) who do not want to come here to work if their request is not met,” said executive director of the Malaysian Employers Federation Shamsuddin Bardan when commenting on the number of Nepal workers who died of heart attack.

Nepal Ambassador to Malaysia Dr Niranjan Man Singh Basnyat was reported as saying 70 percent of the 461 deaths of Nepal workers in Malaysia last year was due to heart attack, basically suffered while sleeping, probably due to their long working hours.

“Their decision to work overtime was upon their own request,” Shamsuddin said.

He added that it would be unfair if the Malaysian government and employers were held responsible for such occurrence.

- Bernama