KUALA LUMPUR – The Bar Council has praised the government’s decision to ensure that migrant workers receive their salaries, even if their employers fail to provide them with work, or if they fall victim to deceptive recruitment agencies.
Datuk Seri M. Ramachelvam, co-chairperson of the Bar’s Migrants, Refugees, and Immigration Affairs committee, emphasised that the responsibility lies with employers to provide jobs for the workers they bring into the nation.
This follows an incident on December 25, where 171 foreign workers, holding valid working permits, marched in Pengerang to lodge a police report after their agent failed to secure jobs for them, despite being in the country for over three months.
“The loophole that employers are not liable to pay migrant workers who have been brought by them to the country, because no work was assigned to the workers, cannot be replied by the employers anymore,” he said in a statement.
“This decision by the government will also serve as a deterrence for employers to ensure that they do not misuse the quota for migrant worker approvals to outsource them.”
The co-chairperson also applauded the Human Resources Ministry for implementing new policies to prevent the recurrence of migrant workers arriving in Malaysia without job placements.
These measures include quota-freezing, blacklisting, and taking legal action against directors and shareholders of violating firms.
Ramachelvam urged the government to collaborate with source countries to prevent abuses during recruitment processes, such as charging “exorbitant and extortionate fees” from migrant workers.
He also highlighted the need to ensure that both local and foreign recruitment agencies adopt the International Labour Organisation’s standard of zero payment from migrant workers.
Acknowledging that Malaysia has adopted the standard that employers bear the costs for migrant workers, Ramachelvam said the issue is mostly prevalent in the countries of origin.
Meanwhile, he also commended the government for allowing deceived migrant workers to change employers, while urging the ministry to assist in the workers’ quest to pursue legal action against the errant employers and agents.
On Tuesday, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the government had allowed foreign workers to change their employers to fulfil the needs of certain sectors that require a large number of workers, such as the agriculture sector.
He also said the Recalibration Plan for illegal immigrants who have overstayed in Malaysia will be reintroduced, in tandem with the existing Workforce Recalibration programme, subject to the Cabinet’s approval.
On the same day, Human Resources Minister Steven Sim said the Labour Department in Johor finished 13 investigation papers regarding the incident.
On January 6, the government also blacklisted the company responsible for the stranded workers from applying for new foreign workers and renewing temporary working passes for existing workers.
Saifuddin also said the company’s conditional approval letter was revoked with no refunds on levies paid, while cancelling its remaining quota of foreign workers. – January 18, 2024