Kula: Bosses must register, contribute to Socso by August

Human resources minister says Socso will launch ‘Op Kesan’ to track down errant employers after 1,544 failed to register with the agency last year.

Human Resources Minister M Kulasegaran doesn’t want errant bosses to be jailed but to see them participate in Socso.

TAIPING: Employers have until August to register their workers and contribute to the Social Security Organisation (Socso), Human Resources Minister M Kulasegaran said today.

He said Socso would launch a nationwide ‘Op Kesan’ campaign to track down employers who failed to abide by the regulation.

Kulasegaran who is also Ipoh Barat MP said errant employers would face a fine of RM10,000 or two years’ jail, or both.

“But I have informed Socso that we do not want to take these employers to court. Why keep them in prison?” he said.

“We want to see their participation in Socso and create a business-friendly environment,” he said.

“The excuse that the workers were not registered because business is not good cannot be accepted because when their businesses do well they do not increase the contributions,” he said.

Kulasegaran had earlier presented Socso assistance of RM2,000 to Rozaini Ibrahim, the widow of bus driver Shuaib KK Mohamed Unny, at Kampung Kurnia Jaya in Kamunting here.

Shuaib and two passengers of a bus he was driving died in an accident last Tuesday involving three heavy vehicles at KM142 of the North-South Highway near Pagoh, Johor.

According to Socso’s records, 6.8 million active employees nationwide under 435,802 employers had been registered as of December 2017, Kulasegaran said.

He said 1,464 employers failed to register with Socso in 2015 while 1,608 employers failed to do so in 2016 and the number last year was 1,544 employers.

Meanwhile, Rozaini said she was touched by the Socso contribution and would use the money for her three children aged 16, 20, and 22.

“I will use the monthly assistance of RM1,499 to pay for the schooling expenses of my three children,” she said. FMT