PETALING JAYA | There is only a week to go before much-delayed amendments to the Employment Act 1955 finally kick in, bringing in a whole slew of benefits to workers and accountability to employers.
And the battle-lines have been drawn – bosses are making a last-ditch effort to get the government to delay implementation, while unions want it to remain steadfast, saying ample time had been given for businesses to prepare.
Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) president Datuk Dr Syed Hussain Syed Husman said though it supported some of the amendments, the timing was not right.
“It will be a big burden to employers, especially when the threshold entitlement to overtime is raised to RM4,000 from the current RM2,000,” he said, adding that the cost for employers to follow the new provisions was estimated at RM111bil annually.
He urged the government to relook some of the amendments to the Employment Act, including the first schedule that extends coverage of the Act to every employee irrespective of their posts, which Syed Hussain said would cause a conflict of interest.
“Under the amendments, those with wages of RM4,000 and above will now be entitled to rest days, public holidays and specified hours of work, but there is no mention of whether they can be required to perform work on rest days, public holidays and extra hours,” he told The Star.
On Wednesday, Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar announced that the implementation of the amended Act would proceed on Jan 1, saying that it was made in accordance with the standards of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
Among others, the amendments outline flexible working arrangements; increase in overtime payments for employees with wages up to RM4,000 per month; a reduction of working hours from 48 hours to 45; 60 days of hospitalisation leave per year in addition to non-hospitalisation sick leave; increase in maternity leave from 60 days to 98; and paternity leave of seven continuous days per birth.
Labour law expert Datuk Thavalingam Thavarajah (pic) said both employers and employees have a role to play to ensure the amendments to the Act were complied with.
He said the threshold of the Act has now been extended to cover a wider category of employees, and as such, employers should ensure that their records were updated to avoid penalties or fines.
“The penalty for offences under the Act has been substantially increased and the Magistrate’s Court has been empowered to try any offence and impose penalties,” he added.
Thavalingam, a former MEF honorary secretary and ex-member of the National Labour Advisory Council, said the amendments gave the Labour director-general the power to inquire into any dispute between an employee and employer relating to discrimination.
However, he said the Act did not define what constituted discrimination.
“Ultimately it will be the courts that will have to look into the peculiar facts of each case,” he said.
SME Association of Malaysia president Ding Hong Sing said the government needed to do some groundwork to truly understand the industry and not just conform to developed countries in introducing the amendments.
He suggested the government look for ways to increase automation should it want to implement shorter working hours, and proposed that the amendments be delayed to 2024.
On the extended maternity leave, he said the government should also shoulder the cost by paying for the additional 38 days as practised in other countries.
Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) president Effendy Abdul Ghani urged the government to proceed with enforcing the amendments, saying they were long overdue and that employers had been given enough time.
He also called for aggressive enforcement so that “the faith of all parties on labour laws can be revived”.
“If we want Malaysia’s job market to be attractive, we need to provide good benefits. In the long run, these benefits will show in the increase in productivity.
“Happy workers are productive workers. Having the appropriate time and balance for family, friends and hobbies keep our workers happy mentally, which is a very important trait to have seeing that mental health issues are plaguing our workforce more now,” he said.
National Association of Human Resources Malaysia (Pusma) president Zarina Ismail, in supporting the amendments, however said increasing maternity leave might backfire and result in fewer women in the workforce.
“I have spoken to some companies and the feedback is that they will employ fewer women,” she added.
