Employers must comply with Employment Act 1955 or face consequences, says HR minister

IPOH: The government has urged all employers to comply with the Employment Act 1955, especially with regard to the reduction of working hours from 48 hours to 45 hours-a-week.

Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar (pic) said this was because the amendment had been approved in Parliament last year and employers were given until Jan 1 this year to implement it.

"So I don't want any excuse from employers who say that they don't know about the law that has been passed," he said when met by reporters during a press conference at the Perak Human Capital Development Centre (PHCDC) on Sunday (Feb 26).

On Feb 23, Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) secretary-general Kamarul Baharin Mansor was quoted in a media report urging the Human Resources Ministry to take strict action against employers who flouted regulations under the Act.

MTUC stressed that there were still reports received of employers who did not adhere to the amendment, including with regard to working hours.

In another development, Sivakumar said his ministry remained committed to ensuring the continued empowerment of the Technical and Vocational Education and Programme(TVET) programme through collaborations with various parties.

He said the main focus of the government at present was to ensure that every TVET graduate obtained a job matching the skills acquired.

"We want to ensure that those trained under the TVET programmes have a high market value because the issue of mismatch is often raised. The graduates produced are not needed by the industries concerned, and this will harm resources in terms of money, time and energy," he said.

Meanwhile, commenting on a survey conducted by the local media on the first 100 days of the unity government, Sivakumar said the administration led by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was on the right track to prove its ability to implement various policies to move the country forward.

However, he said some of the policies required more time to bear fruit.

"If we wish to see a sudden change, that is not an easy thing. A longer period of time is required for the government to implement the planned policies," he said.

According to the survey, about 36 per cent of respondents felt that the relationship among the parties in the government was not working well, while 34 per cent felt it was going smoothly, and the rest were still unsure.- Bernama