THE Human Resources Ministry is finalising a draft to amend the Employment Act 1955 to address the issue of workplace discrimination in hotels where frontline staff are prohibited from wearing the hijab or headscarf.

Minister Richard Riot said the proposal to amend the act was made following a discussion on December 5 last year which involved several parties including the Tourism and Culture Ministry, Women, Family and Community Development Ministry, Department of Islamic Development (Jakim) and the Malaysian Employers Federation.

”The draft amendment to the law will be refined soon with several other agencies involved,” he said in a statement today.

He said the ministry through the Labour Department of Peninsular Malaysia had also carried out inspections on 74 four- and five-star hotels in Pahang, Johor, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya since November.

The inspections were to identify existing elements of discrimination, particularly on the dress code set by employers.

He said the inspections revealed that 13 hotels adopted the no-headscarf policy during working hours while the remaining 61 had no policy on the matter.

He said the department then held discussions with the management of the hotels concerned and they had agreed to lift the ban.

“For example, in Johor, there are four hotels that prohibit the wearing of headscarves and after further discussion, they gave verbal and written agreement to lift the ban,” he said, adding that the department had also issued a letter to two associations and 10 unions from the hotel sector on December 18 last year to seek their opinion on the issue.

Riot said the Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) in its response to the letter said the policy of prohibiting employees from wearing headscarves depended on the management of the respective hotels.

He said employers, especially hotel operators, should cooperate with government efforts to maintain harmony within the workplace.

As such, the minister said employers should always respect their workers’ rights, not only in terms of improving compliance with existing labour laws, but also in respecting individuals’ rights as stipulated under Article 8(2) of the Federal Constitution.

Riot added that the federal constitution prohibits any form of discrimination against citizens on the grounds of religion, race and descent. – Bernama, January 13, 2018.