MyEG making life a misery for employers, call to drop RM38 fee

Foreign workers at a MRT construction site in Kuala Lumpur. The MyEG online system to renew foreign workers' permits has frustrated employers who complain of glitches slowing the process. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, March 25, 2015.The Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) has received complaints from more than 100 employers about the MyEG online system to renew foreign workers' permits since it was implemented on January 5, and wants the RM38 fee per foreign worker dropped.

MEF executive director Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan said employers also want fees for using the service reviewed because the system was inefficient, taking weeks to process when MyEG promised it would take only three days to process applications.

Another complaint was that the online system "hung" or was disrupted after payment had been made, Shamsuddin told The Malaysian Insider recently.

He said the lack of response from MyEG when disgruntled employers tried to lodge complaints have only worsened things, making users feel like they had been ripped off.

Feedback include MyEG’s failure to respond to employers, to the extent of not answering the phone at its customer service line, or picking up briefly before hanging up.

"It is true that we have been getting complaints about MyEG. Employers try to renew permits online but failed.

"It complicates matters and employers are not getting what they had paid for using the MyEG service.

"There are many complaints about MyEG's inefficiency in renewing permits," Shamsuddin said.

Employers pay MyEG RM125 for processing fees when renewing work permits for their foreign workers. They also bear an additional RM38 charge per worker per year.

Shamsuddin said MEF disagreed with the fee per worker each year, saying it should be sufficient to charge employers for postage of documents.

"We understand if they want to charge employer postage fees to mail the documents and others. That is fine but not the RM38.

"Employers are already paying the RM125 to the Home Ministry to renew work permits."

Shamsuddin said it was fair if employers were charged if they wanted to get their documents by mail, but those who collected their papers at the nearest MyEG office were also charged when they paid processing fees.

"So we hope that whatever charges imposed by MyEG, it is limited to the document mailing charges," he added.

The disruptions had caused employers a lot of problems, Shamsuddin said, and urged the government to review the system again.

"Appointing MyEG to renew the permits was supposed to make things easier. It is the right thing to do for the ministry to review this and if necessary, it should appoint a different service provider.

"We understand this is a new thing and the system may have glitches but we hope they overcome the problems immediately and not make things harder for employers who choose to use MyEG's services.”

Calls by The Malaysian Insider to MyEG went unanswered.

- TMI