PETALING JAYA: No employers have been charged for failing to abide by the new minimum wage of RM1,500 a month since it was implemented on May 1, the Dewan Rakyat was told.
Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan said this was because the salaries for May were only received by most employees in early June.
"Up till June 30, no employers were charged for failing to abide by the Minimum Wages Order 2022," he said during Oral Question Time on Monday (July 25).
"Statistics of errant employers who did not abide by the Order could not be prepared following its enforcement on May 1 and compliance can only be ascertained through periodic checks," he added.
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Under Section 43 of the National Wages Consultative Council Act 2011, employers who fail to remunerate in accordance with the minimum wage are liable to a fine of up to RM10,000 for each employee.
Saravanan said the Peninsular Malaysia Labour Department conducted periodic and surprise inspections of employers to ensure that no workers were left out of the minimum wage implementation.
Saravanan said up till June 30, there were 20,452 employers checked and 3,049 workplaces inspected.
"Besides that, the department will investigate any complaints from employees," he added.
Saravanan said that in June alone, the department had received 157 complaints on the implementation of the minimum wage order and investigations found that 118 had not complied with the RM1,500 minimum wage.
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"The employers were advised to abide by the order, failing which legal action would be taken," he added.
Saravanan was responding to Datuk Seri Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa (PH-Parit Buntar) who asked the Human Resources Ministry to state how many employers did not comply with the minimum wage order.
He said that leeway in implementing the minimum wage was given only to employers with fewer than five employees.
"This is to give employers in this category ample (time for) preparations," he said.
However, according to Saravanan, employers in other sectors and categories were not exempted from the minimum wage implementation.
He added that this is because the government has provided various forms of Covid-19 aid such as the Wage Subsidy Programme that has kept businesses going and preserved jobs.
