Govt implements initiatives to help reemployment of locals

The Ministry of Human Resources is committed to assist the reemployment of local job seekers who have been terminated following the COVID-19 outbreak.

Its Minister, Datuk Seri M. Saravanan said in a statement today that the government would implement several initiatives to help sustain the economy and the welfare of Malaysians.

"In order to give preference to local job seekers, all job vacancies for foreign workers and expatriates must be advertised on the JobsMalaysia portal for not less than 30 days," he added.

According to Saravanan, if there were no takers from local job seekers during that period then employers would be allowed to apply for recruitment of foreign workers and expatriates.

Another initiative, he added, was the registration and contribution of the Social Security Organisation (Socso) under the Employment Injury Scheme, the Employees ' Social Security Act 1969 (Act 4) as a mandatory requirement for the issuance and renewal of Professional Visit Pass (for expatriates) and Temporary Employment Visit Pass (PLKS) ) for foreign workers.

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He said the government would make it mandatory for employers to comply with the Foreign Workers First Out (FWFO) element in accordance with the provisions of Section 60 N of the Employment Act 1955 and the Code of Conduct for Industrial Harmony.

"This is to ensure the services of foreign workers must be terminated first in order to ensure the employment of local workers," Saravanan said.

He added that every employer must report the termination of an employee to the Employment Office through the PK form within a period of at least 30 days before termination and temporary and voluntary termination as well as reduction of wages are carried out in accordance with Section 63 of the Employment Act 1955.

"This reporting is important to help the government monitor employers' dismissal actions and assist with the reemployment of those involved," he said.

According to Saravanan, another initiative is to give affected employers who don't have the capacity to continue hiring foreign workers the flexibility to transfer their whole or part of their foreign workforce to other companies with manpower needs.

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However, he said, this was only allowed for the same employment sector and employers' transfer applications could be submitted to the Department of Labour Peninsular Malaysia (JTKSM) headquarters starting June 19. Further information and related documents can be found at jtksm.mohr.gov.my website.

He said the redistribution of existing workers (local and foreign) was across all sectors to ensure that the surplus of workers in a sector would be exploited by the sectors in need that were experiencing labour shortages.

"In ensuring the effectiveness of this reemployment initiative, the ministry and JTKSM seek the support, cooperation and dissemination of information from all players in various industries," Saravanan said.

-- BERNAMA