THE Human Resources Ministry will take action against employers in manufacturing, mining and quarrying as well as services sector who fail to register their companies with the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF), said minister M. Kulasegaran.

He said from the total of 45,750 employers who are liable to register, there are approximately 23,072 employers who have yet to register and contribute to the employers’ levy.

“The ministry will not hesitate to take those who haven’t registered or defaulted to court.

“We will give them until the end of this month to make the necessary contribution and if you have financial difficulties you can get in touch with the HRDF and the ministry on what can be done because we want to find a win-win position for both parties,” he told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur after attending the first meeting with board members of the HRDF.

As listed in the First Schedule of HRDF Act 2001 (also known as PSMB Act 2001) all employers with 10 Malaysian employees and above in the three sectors must register with HRDF. They are subject to a levy amounting to 1% of their employees’ monthly wages.

“We don’t want to take the officers or office bearers to court and put them in jail or fine them, this is the last resort but having about 50% (of employers) who don’t contribute is not good,” Kulasegaran said.

He added that the ministry together with HRDF would put strong emphasis on enforcement of this requirement of registration with HRDF.

The HRDF is an agency set up in 1993 under the Human Resources Ministry and collects a levy from employers for skills training.

Any employer who contravenes the registration requirement under Section 13 (1) of the HRDF Act 2001, commits an offence and shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding RM10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both. – June 5, 2018