Re-examine 'half-hearted' Employment Amendment Bill - Klang MP
Klang MP Charles Santiago has called for a revision of the Employment Amendment Bill - which he describes as a “half-hearted effort” and falling short of its objectives.
The proposed amendments were to comply with standards and practices as required by the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, the Malaysia-United States Labour Consistency Plan and the International Labour Organisation.
Charles reminded that...
Klang MP Charles Santiago has called for a revision of the Employment Amendment Bill - which he describes as a “half-hearted effort” and falling short of its objectives.
The proposed amendments were to comply with standards and practices as required by the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, the Malaysia-United States Labour Consistency Plan and the International Labour Organisation.
Charles reminded that the initial draft for the proposed amendments in 2018 saw the removal of wage thresholds to expand the act’s scope in order to cover all workers regardless of wage level and occupation.
However, he explained, the current proposal fails to remove the wage threshold of RM2,000.
With the median income of a wage earner in 2020 at RM2,062, it is believed that only half of the total 9.4 million wage earners in Malaysia will be protected by the act.
“The Bill has failed to expand the scope of the Employment Act to cover all workers irrespective of wage and occupation by failing to remove the RM2,000 threshold.
“This means that workers who earn above the cut-off wage of RM2,000 would not be covered by the amended Employment Act,” he said in a statement today.
“What exacerbates the situation is the fact that we can expect more and more wage earners to be excluded from the Employment Act protection as their income grows and exceeds the RM2,000 threshold over time,” added Charles.
Missing protections
Provisions which stipulate sexual harassment and maternity protections were applicable to all wage earners also failed to make the cut in the proposed amendments.
“Curiously, the Bill also simultaneously seeks to remove a number of provisions which stipulate that sexual harassment, and maternity protections are applicable to every employee including female employees regardless of wage levels.
“Likewise, a provision that empowers the director-general to investigate and make a decision on wage-related disputes for workers earning up to RM5,000 per month is also proposed to be removed in the Bill.
“This also raises other questions: would this mean that sexual harassment and maternity protection, which are currently applicable to every employee and female employees regardless of wage level will now be applicable only to those earning RM2,000 and less?” said Charles.
He questioned if this move meant the loss of workers’ rights to request the director-general’s investigation and decision in wage-related dispute for those earning up to RM5,000.
Additionally, unlike the original 2018 proposal, the current amendments also see anti-discrimination provisions dropped.
“These provisions have been removed from the Bill and replaced with a general provision empowering the director-general to inquire into and decide on disputes relating to discrimination, and subsequently make an order.
“With these shortcomings, the government needs to re-examine the amendments or it would make a mockery of the Bill’s initial objective of aligning the Employment Act with international labour standards,” said Charles.
Under a September 2018 draft published on the Human Resources Ministry website, the amendment to the Employment Act 1955 will introduce a new provision on “pre-employment”.
The proposed amendment in the 2018 states “An employer shall not discriminate against a job seeker on the grounds of gender, religion, race, disability, language, marital status and pregnancy”.
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