No sensitive departments for MySTEP employees, says PSD

 

The Public Services Department says MySTEP employees will not receive the same benefits as civil servants although they will be working with the government.

PETALING JAYA: Those employed under the Malaysia Short-term Employment Programme (MySTEP) will not be placed in sensitive departments or have access to classified documents, the Public Services Department (PSD) has said.

It said these employees, who will be offered temporary employment for up to a year from Jan 1, will not be assigned to tasks that require signatures to official documents or decisions that may end up as a liability to the government.

In a recent set of guidelines issued by PSD sighted by FMT, the department said the employees will not receive the same benefits as civil servants although they will be working with the government.

“As for the wage structure, it will be based on their qualifications, namely RM2,000 for those with bachelor’s degrees, RM1,800 (diploma and STPM), RM1,600 (SPM) and RM1,400 for the others.

“This amount includes the share of the government’s contribution to the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and the Social Security Organisation (Socso) payments,” the department said.

It said employees under the MySTEP programme are not eligible for overtime allowance.

However, they are entitled to other benefits such as 12 days’ annual leave, 14 days of sick leave and benefits under EPF and Socso.

PSD further said the period of employment must be between one and 12 months, and that the programme will end on June 30, 2023.

When announcing the continuance of this programme during the tabling of Budget 2022, finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz said it was a temporary measure to help the unemployed while they look for permanent jobs.

The programme will offer 80,000 contract employment opportunities, including 50,000 jobs in the public sector and the rest with government-linked companies (GLCs). - FMT