Glove manufacturer Top Glove Corporation Bhd has denied allegations of its migrant workers facing forced labour conditions, as reported in Britain's The Guardian.
Top Glove chairperson Lim Wee Chai admitted, however, that some workers could have worked beyond the stipulated 104-hour limit for overtime, a practice that the company vowed to put a stop to.
Lim could not provide accurate figures of workers who had done so, however.
Nevertheless, he dismissed The Guardian exposé on the UK's National Health Service (NHS) using rubber gloves made by migrants subject to forced labour, forced overtime, debt bondage, withheld wages and passport confiscation.
"NHS accounts for only 0.5 per cent of our market to the United Kingdom. The negative report is not only wrong and erroneous, and the company will think of appropriate action.
"As a public listed company, the shares will rebound," Lim stressed.
Under investigation
According to Human Resources Minister M Kulasegaran, who toured a Top Glove factory today, the Labour Department is in the process of investigating the company.
Kulasegaran said action can be taken against the company under Section 99 of the Employment Act 1955 if any wrongdoing is discovered.
"The Labour Department has visited 22 of the 35 factories owned by Top Glove and are investigating it following the reports.
"The department has not only been visiting this company, but other companies as well.
"We are investigating, and if true we will submit the papers to the Attorney-General's Chambers on whether to prosecute," he told reporters.
He reminded all companies that they cannot make their employees work over a maximum 104 hours a month, as stated in the Employment (Limitation of Overtime Work) Regulations 1980.
[More to follow] - Mkini
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