KUALA LUMPUR: The Employment Insurance System Bill (EIS), which seeks to better protect some 6.5mil local workers, was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.
The proposed new Bill will see the creation of an insurance scheme for laid-off workers while increasing their re-employability following their loss of a job.
The Bill was tabled by Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot who informed the House that the Government hopes to debate and pass the proposed law during the present Dewan Rakyat meeting which sits until Aug 10.
The EIS will be administered by the Social Security Organisation and employers will have to register their industry as well as registering and insuring all employees.
A failure to do so could see employers slapped with a maximum fine of RM10,000 or two years jail or both upon conviction.
Both employers and employees will pay half of the contributions to Employment Insurance Fund (EIF) each.
The contribution rates use a fixed calculation based on monthly wages of between RM30 and an insurable cap of RM4,000.
The contributions can range from 20 sen for wages up to RM30 a month to RM59.30 for wages up to RM4,000 a month regardless of the salary scale for each retrenchment.
The job-loss coverage scheme includes retrenched staff, those undergoing a voluntary or mandatory separation scheme, force majeure (an unforeseen circumstance that makes it impossible for work to be completed) and those made redundant due to business restructuring or closure.
Employees who have lost their jobs may be able to claim a portion of their insured salary for between three to six months that they remain unemployed.
Also claimable are job search allowances, early re-employment allowances including training allowance.
Dependents are entitled to claim the benefits in the event that an insured employee dies, falls into a coma or is of unsound mind.
The accounts of the EIF must be audited by the Auditor-General annually and tabled in Parliament.
The EIS under Socso is expected come into force on Jan 1, 2018, with payouts starting in 2019.
