Minimum wage effectively implemented: Minister

KUALA LUMPUR: The implementation of minimum wage in Malaysia has been effective since its implementation in July with a majority of employers complying to the policy.
Stating this, Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot said this is based on the Labour Department's statutory inspection conducted nationwide from Aug-Oct this year.
"The Labour Department has conducted a total of 7,214 statutory inspections nationwide.
"From the total, 7,043 employers, which is a bulk of 98%, have complied with the minimum wage order while only 171 employers, which is just 2%, have failed to comply the minimum wage order," he told the Dewan Rakyat.
Riot was responding to a question from Datuk Normala Abdul Samad (Pasir Gudang-Umno), who had asked how far the minimum wage policy has been accepted by employers since it was enforced on July 1 and how many employers have not complied.
The minimum wages are according to region, at RM1,000 per month or RM4.81 per hour for Peninsular Malaysia, and RM920 per month or RM4.42 per hour for Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan.
Riot said in Peninsula Malaysia there were 3,811 inspections conducted, of which 3,793 employers have complied to the order and only 18 have failed.
In Sabah, there were 1,688 inspections and 1,600 employers complied while in Sarawak 1,715 inspections were conducted and 1,650 complied.
However Riot did not state whether immediate action will be taken on non-complying employers.
In a supplementary question, Abdullah Sani Abdul Hamid (PKR-Kuala Langat) raised that according to Perkeso, there are almost 1 million workers in Malaysia, who are still not receiving the stipulated minimum wage.
"This is news to me. As the minister in charge, I should be informed about this matter first. Perkeso comes under my ministry, and if it has the information it should inform me first," Riot said.
Employers were given eight months to prepare for the implementation of the new minimum wage rates, which was announced in 2016 Budget by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak in October 2015.
The government had cautioned employers to comply the new rates for minimum wage without any delay to avoid penalty of even jail term under the law.
Riot had previously said all views and recommendations submitted by the National Wages Consultative Council have been considered before setting the new rates and had taken a balanced approach where the interests of both employers and employees were looked into.