KUALA LUMOUR: FGV Holdings Bhd (FGV) has made significant strides in implementing a remediation plan for its labour force, as part of its plan to submit a petition to modify the Withhold Release Order (WRO) issued by the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) by the end of the second quarter of 2024.
The remediation plan seeks to uphold labour rights and address any gaps in its labour practices.
A key component of FGV's remediation programme is the reimbursement of recruitment fees imposed on its migrant workers by third-party recruitment agencies.
FGV said it has allocated a total of RM112 million to reimburse recruitment fees to its migrant workers, including former migrant workers. The reimbursements to workers were made in three tranches that were paid in March, June, and September 2023 respectively.
To date, a total of RM72.2 million has been reimbursed to 19,673 workers.
Upon completion of the reimbursement programme for its current workers, FGV appointed global asurance partner LRQA, to conduct a verification of the reimbursement exercise.
LRQA's verification procedures, which took place between Oct 30, and Nov 24 2023, concluded that 100 percent of the workers who were interviewed had received all three tranches of the reimbursement exercise made by FGV.
The positive outcome of LRQA's verification process reflects FGV's determination to fulfill its commitment to recompense its workers and to safeguard workers' rights and welfare.
FGV said it is working with LRQA to reimburse former migrant workers who are eligible to receive recruitment fee reimbursements.
FGV is reaching out to its former workers to inform them about the reimbursement programme which is publicised periodically on FGV's social media accounts as well as in local newspapers in the workers' countries of origin.
The former worker reimbursement programme will be carried out until end of 2024.
To date, FGV has reimbursed 415 of its former workers amounting to RM1.77 million.
"FGV is fully committed to the principle of 'no recruitment fee for workers'."We have made every effort towards ensuring that our recruitment procedures are aligned with ethical recruitment standards," said group chief executive officer Datuk Nazrul Mansor.
As part of its ongoing efforts, LRQA conducts surveys among the newly recruited workers to ascertain if they had paid any recruitment fees.
FGV's revised agreements with appointed recruitment agencies also stipulate the obligation of recruitment agencies to reimburse workers who claim to have paid any form of fee during recruitment.
All reimbursements to be made by the recruitment agencies to workers will be verified by LRQA.
FGV said it believes that these initiatives and measures will further strengthen its labour practices as it continues its efforts to lift the WRO.
"LRQA is expected to conduct its follow-up assessment in the first quarter of 2024 which is to verify the implementation of FGV's overall remediation plan. "With the outcome of the assessment, FGV will then prepare a petition to the CBP to modify the WRO, which will be submitted by the end of the second quarter of 2024," it added.