PUTRAJAYA: Amendments to the Employment Act 1955 will come into force on Jan 1, as previously planned, said Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar.
"The enforcement of the amendments to the Act must proceed as planned as it was already passed in Parliament, with most of the amendments being based on the International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention," he told a press conference today.
There were calls from various parties for the implementation to be postponed to 2024.
On Aug 26, then Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan announced the deferment of the amended Employment Act 1955 from Sept 1, 2022, to Jan 1, 2023.
The Employment (Amendment) Act 2022 was passed during the Parliament sitting in March.
The key amendments include the extension of maternity leave allocations from 60 days to 98 days, reduced weekly working hours from 48 to 45 hours, and a seven-day paternity leave for married male employees.
Sivakumar said in terms of foreign workers under Section 60K (4) of the Act, the employers must obtain approval from the director-general of the Department of Labour Peninsular Malaysia (JTKSM) to hire foreign labours.
"The reason why the employers need approval from the JTKSM director-general is due to the previous applications that were rejected following the employers' failure to comply with the labour law.
"As such Section 60K (4) of the Act will act as an initial screening, which is effective in ensuring prospective employers employing foreign workers in this country have a clean record from the aspect of compliance to labour standards," he said, adding that the country's image and credibility have been tarnished by the forced labour issue at local companies producing gloves and oil palm.
Meanwhile, Sivakumar said the ministry had approved 700,000 applications to date for the recruitment of foreign workers in various sectors.
"The prime minister (Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) has raised this issue during the cabinet meeting today and the need to speed up the process of getting foreign workers. Various sectors that depend on foreign workers were affected by it.
"We (the Human Resources Ministry) will work with the Home Ministry to ensure we have enough foreign workers.
"To date, we have approved 700,000 applications for recruitment of foreign workers in various sectors.
We will see if other sectors are also in need of foreign workers," he said.
Earlier today, Anwar told a press conference after chairing the weekly cabinet meeting that the Human Resources and Home Ministries have been instructed to expedite the entry approvals of foreign workers, especially in the agriculture, service, and construction sectors.
These three sectors, the premier said, must be given focus as a labour shortage in them could lead to production problems.
In another development, Sivakumar said the One Channel System (OCS) would still be under the ministry.
Yesterday, the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) proposed that the recruitment and management of foreign workers including foreign domestic workers remain under the Human Resources Ministry to ensure business efficacy.
The process of bringing in new foreign workers to Malaysia was revamped in April, with the ministry spearheading the management of the OCS.