Businesses flouting work from home order face closure, fine up to RM50k

 

Companies or premises that do not comply with the work from home (WFH) order and flout the standard operating procedure (SOP) will be ordered to close immediately for seven days and compounded a maximum of RM50,000, said Human Resources Minister M Saravanan.

He said enforcement officers of the Department of Labour Peninsular Malaysia (JTKSM) and Department of Occupational Safety and Health (JKKP) under the Human Resources Ministry (KSM) could now issue compound notices to companies or premises found not to have complied with the directives under the WFH order.

He said in a statement today that the power to issue compound notices was issued under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342) by the Ministry of Health effective June 1.

The move is taken following a significant increase in the number of complaints received through the Working For Workers (WFW) application regarding employers not allowing their staff to WFH as well as enforcing the requirement of 40 percent of private-sector workers to WFH under the movement control order (MCO) 3.0, he said.

On May 3, the KSM launched the WFW application as a platform for 15.7 million workers, including foreigners, to submit labour-related complaints and problems.

Since the introduction of the WFH category in the WFW application on May 23, a total 1,121 complaints had been received by the KSM as of yesterday (June 2).

He said 1,767 complaints with regard to other categories were received from May 3 until yesterday, with 260 cases involving non-payment and late payments of salaries, termination without notice (73 cases) and non-payment of overtime and termination benefits (68 cases).

Among the states with the highest number of complaints were Selangor (580 cases), Kuala Lumpur (511 cases), Johor (223 cases) and Penang (134 cases), he said.

“Workers are advised to continue channelling complaints and problems they face through the WFW application and to practise self-discipline to curb the spread of Covid-19” he said.

- Bernama