WORKERS aged 55 and above would still need to contribute to the Social Security Organization (Socso) until they were 60, Human Resources Minister Richard Riot Jaem said today.

Richard said contributors in the age group would be eligible for compensation similar to other employees if they were sick or were involved in workplace accidents.

However, he said, those who just got hired and never contributed to Socso before were exempted.

“Only their employers will need to pay,” he said.

Riot was answering a question from Tebrau MP Khoo Soo Seang in Parliament today.

“In the amendment made in the Worker’s Social Security Act, those in the age group need to contribute until they reach the retirement age of 60. They are protected under the work disaster scheme and invalidity disaster scheme,” he said.

Richard also shared statistics on pension applications rejected by Socso and the reasons behind it.

There were 6,113 rejected applications for work disaster schemes as compared with 7,780 applications last year, while invalidity disaster scheme applications had also increased from 11,564 in 2015 to 15,130 last year.

The applications were rejected because the applicants were not considered as a worker under the act.

“Other reasons were that accidents that did not occur while working cannot be classified as work disasters,” he said. – July 27, 2017.