EMCO: Only essential service workers allowed in office - Saravanan

PUTRAJAYA: Only workers in essential services are allowed to leave their homes in Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) areas to go to work when the EMCO is in force, said Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan.

Saravanan issued the reminder today following the announcement that most parts of Selangor and certain localities in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur will be placed under the EMCO from July 3 to July 16 because of the high numbers of COVID-19 cases in these two states.

"Therefore, employers are required to abide by this order and allow their workers (in non-essential services) to work from home (WFH)," he said in a statement.

Saravanan reminded employers to abide by the EMCO and standard operating procedure (SOP), especially on the number of workers allowed in the office or other work places.

He said the Human Resource Ministry had received many complaints from workers that their employers had threatened them with work termination if they refused to work from the office.

He advised workers to report such errant employers to the ministry by using the Working for Workers (WFW) application.

Apart from WFH-related complaints, the app also has 16 other categories of complaints involving various labour issues.

"The ministry gives attention to complaints received and will take the appropriate action," he said.

He said 1,878 complaints were recorded by the WFW app between May 23 and yesterday regarding the issue of employers disallowing their workers to work from home.

Selangor had the most number of WFH-related complaints at 696, followed by FT of Kuala Lumpur (505), Johor (196) and Penang (123).

Saravanan said 59 compounds on violation of worker attendance capacity at the office or workplace were issued by the Labour Department of Peninsular Malaysia and Occupational Safety and Health Department between June 1 and July 1.

-- BERNAMA