KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) disagrees with Socso’s plan to increase the salary ceiling for contributors, saying there is no basis for doing so.
MEF executive director Shamsuddin Bardan said the issue of raising the ceiling from RM2,000 to RM3,000 was brought up at the last National Labour Advisory Committee meeting on Feb 27.
However, he said, the MEF objected to the proposal and it was agreed that the Bill to amend the Socso Act 1969 be withdrawn and the Socso board discuss the issue again before any decision was made.
“MEF does not understand why the chief executive of Socso made the statement confirming the increase despite the fact that the board had yet to meet when it was made,” he said in a statement.
Media reports on April 19 quoted Socso chief executive Datuk Ng Teck as saying that Socso had raised the salary ceiling to RM3,000.
Shamsuddin said that under the Socso Act, a review of the salary ceiling may be made but must first meet the criteria, such as changes in the level of earnings based on the consumer price index and on actuarial evaluation.
“The proposed increase to RM3,000 is higher than the CPI increase of 33.9% for the years between 1992-2002,” he said.
Shamsuddin said Socso had not made any study on the number of employees whose first salary upon joining the workforce was above RM2,000.
He said the MEF’s survey findings on salary and fringe benefits for 2003 indicated that the average salary at entry level for graduates was RM1,192 for diploma, RM1,669 for bachelor degree and RM1,834 for honours degree holders.
Based on the “once in always in” principle, Socso coverage applied to those who first joined the workforce with salaries of RM2,000 and below, he said.
“Such workers will always be covered by Socso even if their salary subsequently exceeds RM2,000,”he said. – Bernama
