Nine complaints received regarding employers not allowing WFH

 

Nine complaints have been received with regard to employers not allowing their staff to work from home (WFH) through the newly-introduced “Majikan Tidak Benarkan BDR” (employers not permitting WFH) category of the Working for Workers (WFW) application.

Human Resources Minister M Saravanan said the category, introduced on Sunday, was created following the government’s announcement that 40 percent of private sector staff will work from home, starting today, to reduce the risk of Covid-19 infection.

“Workers forced by employers to be present at the office and in contradiction with the additional restrictions under the movement control order (MCO) are encouraged to lodge a complaint via the WFW application,” he said in a statement today.

Saravanan said the ministry, through its relevant departments, would conduct investigations in accordance with relevant acts and complaints would be referred to the International Trade and Industry Ministry (MITI) or Ministry of Health (MOH) if there was a violation of the standard operating procedure (SOP) or Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342).

The WFW application was introduced on May 3 as a platform to 15.7 million employees, including foreigners, to lodge complaints and raise problems regarding labour issues.

The application currently has 17 categories, including the new ‘employers not permitting WFH’.

“The move to create the new category online is the ministry’s initiative to help reduce the movement and physical presence of workers and allow them to lodge complaints at any Labour Office,” Saravanan said.

He added that the WFW application had recorded a total of 178 complaints as of May 23, of which 105 were made by Malaysians and the rest by foreign workers.

Kuala Lumpur recorded the highest number of complaints, with 75 cases, followed by Selangor (44) and Johor (21).

- Bernama