Yeoh urges govt to cushion impact of impending new employment laws

 

Putrajaya has been urged to use Budget 2023 to cushion the impact of new employment laws that will be implemented on Jan 1 next year.

In a statement today, Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh said the enforcement of the Employment (Amendment) Act 2022 would increase maternity leave from 60 days to 98 days and reduce weekly working hours to 45 hours, down from 48 hours.

In view of this, Yeoh suggested that the government can use Budget 2023 to cushion the impact of this new policy by subsidising wages for businesses where the majority of employees are women that require maternity leave.

"Government assistance in this manner will ensure that this amendment to the law will not unnecessarily discriminate against either the mother or father that requires their maternity and paternity leave respectively, without which may cause them to lose their jobs.

"This may, in turn, encourage employers to hire young women, indirectly supporting their employability.

"Many of these businesses and companies have only started to recover from the economic hardship brought about by Covid-19 and are in no position to fork out large sums of expenses for their employees when they themselves are struggling to break even," she said.

Yeoh pointed out that if all stakeholders don't come together to have a say in the decision-making, all good deeds from this amendment will only prove fruitless.

She made these suggestions after participating in the Women Entrepreneur Network Association (Wena) meeting, which discussed the challenges that female entrepreneurs would face with this new policy.

While supporting the new laws because they benefited employees, Yeoh said the impact of the new law on employers should not be disregarded because many businesses are still in recovery mode after bearing the brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Yeoh added many employers are also still struggling with the recently implemented minimum wage law, inflation and labour shortages.

"All of these factors have an adverse financial impact on their businesses. The government should step in and engage with the primary stakeholders (employers), especially entrepreneurs and SMEs that are managed by women, to better understand their plight," she said. - Mkini