Employers have been urged to comply with the requirements stated in Act 446 to provide decent accommodation for their foreign workers, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. Director of the Legal and Enforcement Division of the Labour Department of Peninsular Malaysia (JTK), Zaini Yaacob, said the government would not compromise with any employer who ignored or...

The government should review the proposed new condition whereby companies are allowed to hire foreign workers by paying for the repatriation of undocumented migrants in the immigration depot, says the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM). The federation called on the government to engage with relevant stakeholders to come up with a more workable solution to...

The Home Minister announced employers in the construction, manufacturing, plantation and agriculture sectors will be allowed to legally employ undocumented foreign workers under the Labour Recalibration Plan for undocumented immigrants. Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainuddin said the government would also roll out the Repatriation Recalibration Plan where undocumented immigrants can volunteer to return to their homelands,...

It has been over a week since a new law on workers accommodation came into force, but industries are asking for up to a one-year extension to meet the fresh requirements. Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) executive director Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan said that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, more time was needed to comply with the...

The government is implementing a worker redeployment initiative to reduce job losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan said the initiative involved online registration by the workers through agencies such as the Department of Manpower Peninsular Malaysia, Social Security Organisation and Pembangunan Sumber Manusia Bhd. He said the ministry...

Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) said the requirement for foreign workers to have valid work permits in order to be re-employed to another employer defeats the overall purpose of redeployment. Its executive director, Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan said many foreign workers would be unable to be redeployed based on this requirement as existing employers would only release...

Governments around the world are implementing measures to mitigate the spread of Covid-19, including national lockdowns, quarantines and social restrictions. These measures have forced businesses to temporarily cease operations during the lockdown periods, which subsequently puts pressure on consumer spending and increase in unemployment of local workers. While curbing the pandemic is crucial, our Government...

Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan said employers are allowed to rehire foreign workers who were retrenched earlier, but local workers must be given priority to fill job vacancies. He added foreign workers could be re-employed in sectors which do not received encouraging response from local workers. However, the re-employment of foreign workers is...

More than 11,000 local workers have been hired through the government’s Hiring Incentive Programme (PenjanaKerjaya) so far, according to Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan. He added from June 15 to Aug 7, 8,170 employers had registered for the incentive, with 3,777 of them taking in 11,368 workers. “In the construction sector, 560 employers...