Purely legal arguments are not useful in these extraordinary times


I FELT puzzled when I read an opinion piece on the rights of employees and employers and wages during the movement control order. The writer states that the ministry seems to be of the opinion that employees are entitled to full wages during this period and that they cannot be compelled to utilise annual leave and that this opinion is without legal basis. 

He goes on by stating that the current situation is one of force majeure, i.e. an event that is beyond the control of employers and employees. Therefore, it would appear that contractual rights and obligations are suspended during this period. Under common law, if an employee is ready to perform his services during the period covered by his contract of employment, which provides for payment of wage at certain times, he is entitled to the wages although the employer has no work for him. In the current situation where companies have to shut down due to the MCO, no employee can be deemed to be ready to perform his services. Therefore, the basic fact is that the employee would not be entitled to wages.

It seems that the writer seems to hold an opinion that is purely legal rather moral that takes into consideration the implication of salary cuts to middle- and low-wage earners if the MCO is extended, while providing simplistic suggestions with no consideration to the amount of funds needed to help business survive and secure jobs for the employees. It is obvious that the writer has not taken the 20 billion stimulus package to help business to survive into consideration in his opinion, while workers have to take a pay cut and scrape their EPF savings to survive. 

Malaysian employees would like to know how the RM20 billion stimulus package is going to help business and employees. There is no law that compels the government to help business. It is done out of moral responsibility for the nation. 

Countries like Britain has decided to pay 80% of wages for those not working due to the coronavirus crisis. Any employer in that country will be able to apply for payments of up to £2,500 (RM13,000) per worker which is just above the median UK income. The unprecedented move means the government will guarantee a proportion of the salaries of millions of workers, if employers keep them on their payroll rather than laying them off. While the above solutions do not guarantee the survival of a business, it takes into consideration the importance of keeping businesses alive and protecting employees so that the job security and purchasing power of British citizens are not affected by worries of unpaid wages and retrenchment.

Therefore, there is a need for the government and employers to be transparent in the utilisations of the stimulus funds so that everyone will be clear about situation and work together for the good of the country without short changing each other.  Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures, and purely legal arguments do not help.

* Ronald Benjamin reads The Malaysian Insight.



 

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.


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