Amendments to employment act to be tabled in March 2019
The amendments to the Employment Act 1955 are expected to be tabled in Parliament in March next year. Minister of Human Resources, M. Kula Segaran said the public could expect massive amendments to the act which was last amended in 2013. He disclosed that the government was already in the final stage after holding several discussion sessions with the stakeholders and non-governmental organisations, and now waiting for the final report from an independent committee before proceeding with the tabling.
“There are 38 major matters (altogether) they are going through these and should be able to get the report ready,” he told a press conference after opening the Asean Labour Ministers’ Meeting in Kuala Lumpur today
Asked on the report which is supposed to be handed over by the year-end, Kulasegaran said the Cabinet had agreed to give the committee extension of time after they asked to extend the submission to February. “I, however, told them that their submission should be no later than January. (But) you can rest assured that as soon as the Cabinet approves the report, we will put it online,” he said while referring to the ministry’s standard operating procedure of ensuring that the public is always in the loop.
On another matter, the Minister said the government is working out an improved and standardised memorandum of understanding (MoU) on employing foreign workers by making the recent MoU signed with Nepal as among the guidelines.
He said the MoU with Nepal signed in October, conformed with the International Labour Organisation, which among others, was aimed at curbing human trafficking and exploitation of workers.
He said this was paramount to the government to prevent Malaysian from sliding further down in the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report after the country was once again downgraded to the Tier 2 watchlist this year, the same position it held in 2015 and 2016.
Source: Bernama
