Making sure workers get paid – and on time

TAPAH: The human resources ministry will launch an e-wages system in the near future to ensure that all workers in the country, including foreign workers, are paid their salaries and wages as promised by employers.

Human resources minister M Saravanan said his team had held a meeting with the home ministry to fine-tune the system, which was currently in the final stages, before it could be implemented.

“With the use of this system, it is expected to regulate employers who do not pay or are late in paying salaries to employees in all sectors which is often an issue in the country.

“When we practice the e-wages system, we will get early information if employers, who are required to pay their employees’ salaries before the 7th of each month, do not pay (within the stipulated period),” he said.

Saravanan said this at a press conference after officiating a constituency event and presenting Ramadan donations to mosques and suraus in the Tapah parliamentary constituency.

He said this when commenting on allegations that there were employers who lodged reports to the Immigration Department to conduct raids on their foreign workers as a way to avoid paying their salaries.

Saravanan also thanked the home ministry for agreeing to share the existing platform in the ministry to get preliminary information on whether the employers had paid their employees’ salaries before the employees themselves lodged a complaint.

He said that although his ministry is responsible for defending the fate of workers, whether they are locals or foreigners, “we were previously hampered as we did not (have) access to evaluate (the issue) using the existing platform at the home ministry”.

“With the agreement to share the platform, we will get early information when we begin the e-wages system. (With this in place) there is no need to wait for complaints from the employees because as soon as employers fail to pay, we will get information and we will take action,” he explained.

Saravanan, who is Tapah MP, said a total of 100 Standard Four students were selected to participate in the aid programme which will fund their school fees as well as various expenses involving education up to Form Five.

A total of 16 mosques also received an allocation of RM4,000 each while 79 suraus received RM1,800 each in the Tapah constituency.