Over 300 Nepalis in limbo in Nilai with no jobs, unpaid salary

Over 300 Nepali migrant workers are stuck in limbo in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan for over three months after jobs promised to them failed to materialise.

A source from the Nepal Embassy explained that the foreign workers, who arrived in Malaysia in January, were recruited by a cleaners provider company - Star Domain Resources Sdn Bhd - to be deployed to work in Genting Highlands.

However, the insider said the aforementioned workers have yet to be placed at any jobs and are left unpaid.

“A total of 301 Nepalese workers have been placed at a centralised labour quarter, which was approved by the Labour Department in Nilai.

“The recruitment agency in Nepal reported that only 45 of them have been given jobs.

“In terms of salary, we are made to understand that the company had only paid them, regardless of job status, their basic salary of RM1,500 in April. They still owe them two months’ worth of wages,” he told Malaysiakini.

He divulged that the Nepal Embassy had arranged meetings with the cleaning company but they were a no-show.

‘Token payment’

Meanwhile, Negeri Sembilan labour department director Roslan Bahari (above, centre, in blue button-down shirt) revealed that Star Domain Resources had only paid the workers up to RM600 as a “token payment”.

Speaking to Malaysiakini, Roslan said the company had postponed the full salary payment for the third time since the issue arose.

“The Labour Department, especially in Negeri Sembilan, had met the employer more than seven times to urge them to pay the outstanding wages. We, along with the embassy representatives, had gone all out to ask the employer to pay.

“They should have paid the remaining two months’ worth of salary on Thursday (May 11) at 12.30pm but they failed to do so.

“When we met them on Friday (May 12), the employer promised to pay all that they owed latest by Monday,” he said.

He asserted that the Labour Department and the Nepal Embassy had worked hard to resolve the matter at hand.

While the Labour Department had considered taking prosecutorial action against Star Domain Resources, Roslan feared that shifting focus would only leave the workers unpaid.

“We have opened an investigation paper on this issue but I think it’s best to focus on the workers and their unpaid salary,” he said.

He said the Labour Department headquarters in Kuala Lumpur is working towards transferring the remaining 256 jobless workers to another employer in the near future.

“If worse comes to worst, we will seek help from the embassy to file a report to the Labour Department and we will help to file the claims for the workers.

“They are all legal workers,” said Roslan.

A representative from Star Domain Resources declined to comment on the matter when contacted yesterday.

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