The regards to case of foreign workers being stranded in Pengerang which gained nationwide exposure after over a hundred Bangladeshi workers marched to the police station to file a report against their employer, both the Home Ministry and Human Resources have issued a statement on the action taken by the government on the recruiter.
While agreeing that there should some long-term actions needed to ensure such incidents don’t occur in the future, the ministries have taken 7 action against the company that was involved in the incident.
Firstly, it will be charged under the anti-trafficking act for bringing in the workers without job confirmation followed by failure to provide minimum housing or accommodation that can lead to general penalties upon conviction. This will then be added with a fine not exceeding RM50,000 for each offense for neglecting the employee in terms of salary payment and not providing conducive accommodation.
The employer will then see the cancellation of the Conditional Approval Letter that was issued with levy payment returned and will be blacklisted from employing foreign workers in the future or even from renewing existing workers. The Home Ministry will then cancel all remaining quota of foreign workers given to the company. Which literally means the company can no longer do employment business and should probably start a new business in other sectors.
For future avoidance, the ministries said it will look into areas that need to be resolved such as conducting inspections on employers who have brought in foreign workers. These actions it said is to ensure employers perform their responsibilities towards foreign workers.
