No more delay to implementation of amendments to Employment Act 1955, says HR Minister
21/12/2022 (The Edge Markets), Putrajaya - The government is keeping to its stance to implement amendments to the Employment Act 1955 starting Jan 1 next year, including the requirement that approval is needed from the Labour Department's director-general prior to the recruitment of foreign labour.
The amendments were passed in Dewan Rakyat in March this year and gazetted in May. Originally slated for implementation in September, the previous government had delayed it until Jan 1 next year.
“We should go on with it, it will give better protection to workers, we have passed it in Parliament and it is in line with the ILO (International Labour Organization) Convention,” Human Resource Minister V Sivakumar told a press conference here.
He said it acts as an “effective early filter” in ensuring that potential foreign workers' employers have a clean record in terms of abiding to local employment standards.
This was necessary because there have been issues of forced labour in the past, he said, which even affected the country's image and credibility, "with local manufacturers of gloves and palm oil having been banned by the US CBP (US Customs and Border Protection) [from selling] their products in the US".
Sivakumar said the prior approval by the Labour Department's DG will prevent such abuses from happening again.
Meanwhile, he said foreign labour with permits in the country now totalled 1.34 million people.
The Ministry of Human Resource (MOHR) has approved 700,000 applications for the recruitment of foreign labour since April.
With the approvals given, over 300,000 foreign workers have successfully entered the country and helped ease the labour shortage situation here, he said.
Once the remaining 400,000 foreign workers enter Malaysia successfully, Sivakumar said the total number of foreign labour will surpass pre-pandemic levels.
“This was raised by the prime minister in the Cabinet meeting this morning, about the need to increase supply of foreign workers as soon as possible. We understand many sectors out there are affected by labour shortage, MOHR views this seriously and we will work with the Ministry of Home Affairs to speed up the recruitment of foreign workers,” he said.