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Kuala Lumpur, Thurs 3rd Dec - There must be a new law to provide
compensation to Malaysian workers who are terminated, retrenched or laid-off by
employers, says Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) president Syed Shahir
Syed Mohamud.
He said this was because, the current Employment (Termination And Lay-Off
Benefits) Regulations 1980 was no longer just or sufficient, given the fact of
changes in the employment patterns in the country.
"Today, a lot of employers hire workers, be it local workers or migrant
workers, on a short fixed-term basis which range from one to two years.
Thereafter, a new contract may be entered into, for some.
"There is also the practice of contracting out some of the jobs to private
contractors, and in this case, the workers become employees of the contractor,
and not the owner of the place that they work with," said Syed Shahir in a
statement here today.
He said this changing employment practice has had serious implications for
workers, for they not only lose job security but also rights as workers,
including the right to join existing unions.
The current Employment (Termination And Lay-Off Benefits) Regulations 1980
is for the long-term worker, and this is also reflected in Regulations 3(1) that
states that an employer shall be liable to pay termination or lay-off benefits
payment, calculated in accordance with regulation 6, to an employee who has been
employed under a continuous contract of service for a period of not less than
12 months.
This means that short-term fixed contract employees who have worked for less
than a year are not entitled to any benefit under the regulations, says Syed
Shahir.
He said recently, it was reported that retrenched workers of Nikko
Electronics Bhd protested outside Penang State Assembly, seeking the state
government's assistance to get benefits and compensation.
They were amongst the 1,000-odd workers who were retrenched suddenly
without notice by their employer in July, last year, and apparently, their plea
to the minister, the federal and state government, has not been successful to
date.
Syed Shahir said, if there was a national retrenchment scheme as proposed by
MTUC in 1998, in place, they (retrenched workers of Nikko Electronics Bhd) could
have resorted to this to get some compensation. Related News
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