PUTRAJAYA must review the Employment Act 1955 (Act 265) as it falls short of its objective, Charles Santiago said today.

The Klang MP said by failing to remove the RM2,000 threshold, the bill has failed to expand the scope of the act to cover all workers irrespective of wage and occupation, meaning they will not be protected under the act.

“When the draft for the proposed amendments was circulated in 2018, the threshold for wage was to be removed to effectively expand the scope of the act to cover all workers regardless of wage level and type of occupation,” he said in a statement today.

“What exacerbates the situation is the fact that we can expect more and more wage earners to be excluded from the Employment Act protection as their income grows and exceeds the RM2,000 threshold over time.”

Data from the Department of Statistics Malaysia in the Salaries and Wages Survey Report Malaysia 2020 showed that the median income of a wage earner in 2020 was RM2,062.

This means out of the total 9.4 million wage earners in Malaysia, only approximately 4.7 million were protected by the proposed amendment.

Santiago said provisions that addressed sexual harassment and maternity protection were also removed from the bill.

Provisions that empowered the director-general to investigate and make a decision on wage-related disputes for workers earning up to RM5,000 per month were also proposed to be removed in the bill.

“Would this mean that sexual harassment and maternity protection, which are currently applicable to every employee and female employee, regardless of wage level, will now be applicable only to those earning RM2,000 and less?” he asked.

“Would the right of workers to request for the director-general’s investigation and decision in wage-related disputes for workers earning up to RM5,000 per month also be lost?

“Clearly, the Human Resources Ministry hasn’t thought through these issues carefully.”

Basis for discrimination unlike the initial proposal, which included comprehensive language and identified specific grounds such as gender, religion, race, disability, marital status, pregnancy, language and age, have also been removed, Santiago said.

“With these shortcomings, the government needs to re-examine the amendments or it would make a mockery of the bill’s initial objective of aligning the Employment Act with international labour standards.” – March 21, 2022.