Discrimination against job seekers not in proposed Employment Act changes

PARLIAMENT | There are currently no plans to include discrimination against job seekers in the proposed amendments to the Employment Act 1955, Deputy Human Resources Minister Mahfuz Omar said.

He said, for example, there is currently no law against any employer who does not hire pregnant women.

"The protective coverage of (the Employment Act) only arises after the employee and the employer have started their relationship (after they enter into an employment contract with each other)," he said in the Dewan Rakyat today.

The deputy minister was responding to a question from Nurul Izzah Anwar (Harapan-Permatang Pauh) on the ministry's efforts to ensure job seekers are protected from discrimination and whether such protection would be included in the proposed Employment Act amendments.

"The ministry is in the midst of reviewing employment laws, specifically those related to discrimination in the workplace, which will be included in the proposed amendments to the Employment Act.

"The proposals include the definition of discrimination based on gender, religion, race, disability, marital status, pregnancy and language (as well as) discrimination which involves the terms and conditions in an employment contract.

"But for now, the ministry has no plan to include protection for job seekers in the amendments to the Employment Act," Mahfuz said during the question-and-answer session.

However, Mahfuz said the ministry is always open to receiving complaints related to discriminatory practices in the workplace.

Instead, he said the ministry will handle such complaints by negotiating with employers and advising them to ensure that such things will not be repeated.

"We are always open to accepting any complaint.

"If there are complaints to the ministry, even though it is not covered under the law, we will start negotiations and provide advice to employers so that they will not do such unreasonable things again," Mahfuz said.

He said this in reply to Nurul Izzah, who also asked about the government's efforts to protect discrimination against hiring pregnant women, as a result of the recently announced 90 days for maternity leave.

Mahfuz gave the same reply to Ismail Mohamed Said (BN-Kuala Krau) who asked whether employers who discriminated against women and people with disabilities have had action taken against them.

In September, the Human Resources Ministry had said it was premature to suggest that the government would not follow through with the proposed anti-discrimination provisions to protect job seekers, as part of the amendments to the Employment Act.

Earlier, Malaysiakini had reported that the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) confirmed the anti-discrimination provisions would be dropped due to objections on grounds that the Employment Act 1955 does not govern the pre-employment stage. -Mkini