PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) claims it has received many complaints of employers failing to abide by the amendments to the Employment Act since its implementation a week ago.
MTUC secretary-general Kamarul Baharin Mansor said it has received complaints from workers and unions, and that one of the issues they brought up was failure to implement the 45-hour work week.
“Employers did not make the necessary preparations because they were hoping that the government would postpone the implementation of the amendments again,” he said in a statement today.
Kamarul claimed some employers also amended their workers’ service terms without their agreement, including not paying them during their breaks.
“These employers changed the terms of service so that workers would work a total of 45 hours. This has incurred the wrath of workers as the amount of time they spend at the workplace has not changed.
“The purpose of the 45-hour work week (as opposed to the 48-hour work week previously) is to create work-life balance for workers. Workers should be able to be with their families with the reduced hours.
“Unfortunately, employers are using other means to force workers into staying at the company for 48 hours throughout the week,” he said.
Kamarul urged the human resources ministry to conduct checks on all companies to ensure they were abiding by the amendments to the Act, for the sake of the workers’ welfare.
He called for employers who fail to implement the amendments to face strict action, even court charges.
The amendments to the Act are aimed at safeguarding the welfare of workers and to bring local regulations in line with the International Labour Organization (ILO) convention.
It was meant to be implemented on Sept 1 but was later postponed to Jan 1.
Last month, five retailer groups had urged Putrajaya to further postpone the implementation of the amendments, expressing concern over the RM4,000 salary ceiling for employees’ overtime payment entitlements, 45-hour work week, 98 days maternity leave and flexible working arrangements.