This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on December 11, 2018

KUALA LUMPUR: The ministry of human resources will take action against employers whose workers breach the limit of overtime (OT) work which, the Employment (Limitation of Overtime Work) Regulations 1980 stated, is a maximum of 104 hours per worker per month.

When asked about allegations of excessive OT by workers at Top Glove Corp Bhd, Human Resources Minister M Kula Segaran said he would not dispute that the issue had occured at Top Glove in the past, but stressed that it was never forced OT.

“However, now [it] has to strictly adhere to it (the maximum OT limit). There will be no more compromise on this. We will strictly enforce this and will even prevent employers from bringing in foreign workers if they breach this regulation,” he told reporters yesterday after visiting Top Glove’s Factory 25, amid reports of mistreatment of foreign workers by the glove maker, in particular allegations of excessive OT and debt bondage.

Kula Segaran also said the Malaysian government had taken steps to ensure that workers are not burdened by recruitment fees by imposing zero recruitment fees. “I signed a memorandum of understanding when I went to Nepal, whereby workers [can] come in at zero cost. With this, even [their] air tickets need to be borne by the employers. This was not the case before,” he said.

He also shared that checks made by the ministry also found that allegations regarding passports of workers being confiscated by Top Glove were untrue.

Peninsular Malaysia Labour Department director-general Datuk Mohd Jeffrey Joakim, who was also present, said workers were given keys to lockers where their passports were kept. “From our investigation, we didn’t find any restrictions for workers to gain access to those lockers,” he said.