Hotline soon to report bosses who cut staff wages for Covid-19 screening

 

The Human Resources Ministry will set up a hotline to enable workers who had their wages cut by employers for mandatory Covid-19 screening to lodge a report. - NST/file pic.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Human Resources Ministry will set up a hotline to enable workers who had their wages cut by employers for mandatory Covid-19 screening to lodge a report.

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said he was informed by the ministry that a hotline will be set up soon.

"I was made to understand by the ministry that employers are not allowed to impose the compulsory screening charge on workers by taking the cost out of their salaries.

"I was also made to understand that there were many employers who were reluctant to pay for the charge on behalf of their workers.

"As such, the Human Resources Ministry will set up a hotline for these workers to report such incidences. Action would subsequently be taken against the employers," he said.

Ismail Sabri was responding to a question on employers who deducted foreign workers' salaries as payment for the compulsory screening.

The government had made it compulsory for all foreign workers in the country to be screened for Covid-19 starting Feb 1.

Last year, the government made it compulsory for foreign workers in Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Penang, Sabah, Kuala Lumpur, and Labuan to be tested for Covid-19, with the costs to be borne by their employers. - NST