Utusan Melayu (M) Bhd may face action under the Employment Act 1955 if it fails to pay compensation in one lump sum to employees who took up the voluntary separation scheme (VSS) within 30 days of their date of termination.
Deputy Human Resources Minister Mahfuz Omar said the Employment (Termination and Lay-Off Benefits) Regulations 1980 required that the payment be made in one lump sum.
The company could be fined up to RM10,000 for each case, he said in response to a report that the newspaper company would pay compensation in monthly instalments for a year to its 800 employees who were offered the scheme.
“So far, we know the matter from media reports. The employees should be brave to come forward and make an official report (to the Department of Occupational Safety and Health) because without the report, we cannot take action,” he told a press conference after opening the Conference on Occupational Safety and Health here today.
Also present were director-general of the Labour Department Mohd Jeffrey Joakim, National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health chairman Lee Lam Thye and Social Security Organisation deputy chief executive (corporate) Azlaily Abd Rahman.
Jeffrey said his department had been informed that the newspaper company was still in discussions with the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) on a solution to the matter of compensation payment.
Azlaily said Utusan employees who had been terminated under the VSS could apply for aid of RM600 a month for three months under the Employment Insurance System (SIP).
“Under SIP, we also help them to find (new) jobs through Jobs Malaysia,” she added.
Last Saturday, NUJ in a statement said the VSS offer made by Utusan Melayu to 800 of its 1,500 staff was insincere, dishonest and dubious.
According to NUJ, it was also made in haste without discussions with the union.
Source : FMT
No comments:
Post a Comment