KUALA LUMPUR: Logistics company J&T Express has clarified that it would not deduct the wages of its employees following uproar over late deliveries.
The company also said they did not owe their employees any overdue wages, saying that they were willing to be monitored by the authorities and the public.
J&T Vice President Jason Ren said employees had resumed normal working status as of Feb 5, and had actively sorted and processed the packages of customers.
In a statement today, Ren said the company had been fully committed to localisation development, continuously improving employee compensation and benefits, and promoting the development of Malaysia's social economy and e-commerce industry.
J&T, he added, were also committed to building a complete compensation and benefits system to increase employee benefits, giving employees year-end bonuses after comprehensive consideration, in accordance with the bonus rules and regulations.
"In accordance with the Malaysian Labour Law, full bonuses are paid to employees who have worked for a year.
"For employees who have worked for less than a year, bonuses are paid according to the length of working time, without prejudice.
"Unfortunately, certain department employees are not clear about the bonus payment scheme which led to violent sorting of packages on Feb 4, inciting some employees to make collective disturbances and posting the videos to social media.
"Our Perak state management has immediately handled and clarified the incident," he added.
Ren also admitted that the management was at fault for only providing "simple training" for temporary workers, who had been hired due to the rapid increase in package volume during the Movement Control Order period.
"This is indeed a fault with our management. We have formulated special regulations and management methods for settlement of claims and supervision of similar incidents, and fast settlement of lost packages."
Yesterday, a video went viral on social media, allegedly of J&T staff rioting at a warehouse due to problems over wages.
The 15-second video showed a man hurling packages belonging to customers on the ground.
Ren added that the company had made reforms in the shortest possible time after the incident, including staff and vehicle expansion, and management supervision.
He said the management had gone to the ground for grassroots training to ensure quality working behaviour of all its employees.
"We express our deepest apologies to all Malaysians.
"We once again express our deepest apologies for the shortcomings of our internal management that have caused dissatisfaction and losses from our customers.
"We will bear all the responsibilities, quickly improve our management and service standards, and provide professional training to our own employees for reliable and efficient express service to Malaysian users."
Meanwhile, Berita Harian reported that the Department of Industrial Relations was currently investigating the alleged riot.
Quoting a source from the Human Resources Ministry, it said minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan had not commented on the matter.
"The department under the Human Resources Ministry is investigating this.
"The minister will give his final say on the issue soon."