Speaking at the recently concluded Labour Law Conference 2019, The Minister of Human Resources, YB Kula Segaran, revealed that the Ministry is working on a ‘one-of-a-kind’ act for human resource practitioners aimed at accrediting and training HR professionals. At this point of time, the ministry is in the stage of gathering information from respective stakeholders.
Missed the Labour Law Conference 2019? Fret Not! Come and participate in the upcoming Q3 Malaysia Employment Law Conference 2019 happening on the 3rd July 2019 with Workshops on 4th July 2019 at Aloft KL Sentral Hotel. Do join us. For more info, visit www.irlawconference.my today OR contact Ms. Suhaila (019-6696189).
In his speech, YB Kula Segaran unveiled his plans to bring the ILMIA Research Centre, which falls under the HR Ministry, to international standards in order to position it as “the single source for accreditations”.
He then further clarified that those who are already in the Human Resources, his ministry will make it as flexible as possible and with exemptions for those that are already practicing.
He added that the reason for initiating this act is being resulted from the fact that HR practitioners appearing in the Industrial Court and the Labour Court and therefore, the emphasis should be on them being “properly trained and accredited”.
The minister also, among the new initiatives unveiled (in his speech) was also related to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, where his Ministry is looking at an act for the institute to look after trainers in the country in a professional manner.
These changes are on top of the five previously announced amendments that are due as below:
- Employment Act
- Trades Union Act
- Industrial Relations Act
- Minimum Standard of Housing and Amenities Act
- Occupational Safety and Health Act
YB Kula further iterated, “With all these changes, it is going to be challenging. Out of the five amendments, hopefully we can get two or three (discussed) in the coming sitting”. The minister was obviously referring to the next impending session of Parliament which is scheduled to be held from 1 July 2019 – 18 July 2019.
He hoped that his ministry would be able to get the government’s approval on his final staging pertaining to 3 days paternity leave, reduced number of working hours as well as increasing the maternity leave from 60 days to 98 days.
YB Kula Segaran, Minister of Human Resources speak at the Labour Law Conference 2019, Concorde Hotel, Kuala Lumpur.
Posted by HRnews.my on Wednesday, 12 June 2019
Other labour plans progress by the HR Ministry
YB Kula has also pointed out that some labour cases, especially on the issues of termination have taken very long time to settle even during his time as a lawyer which is one of the very main reason he took up the issue of the Appeals Court.
“The whole idea is to speed up the process which will create a win-win situation for both employers and employees involved. Hopefully the appellate can dispose off all cases within three months, and within a year everything would be completed.”
Among other initiatives mentioned by YB Kula are as below:
- To hold at least two National Labour Advisory Council meetings every year. For record, in 2019, he has already had five such meetings.
- Labour court presiding officers being represented by senior lawyers or retired judges on ad-hoc appointments to enhance the image of the labour court and its strength.
- To increase the quantum to bring a case to the Labour Court from MYR2000 and below to unlimited in order to cover many employees.
IR 4.0 – The Inevitable And Not The Endgame
“IR 4.0 – whether we like it or not it is on our doorstep,” Minister Kula Segaran affirmed. As such, the Ministry is pushing technical institutes to focus more technical/vocational training than getting students to universities, which is more of pure academics and might not be so relevant in IR 4.0.
For this push, he cited the case of the profession of doctors who are caught in a quandary with some of them not having got jobs for upto two years.
