Companies refusing to grant 90 days maternity leave to face action

The Human Resource Ministry will take action against private sector employers who refuse to allow 90 days of maternity leave to female workers beginning 2021.

Its minister, M Kulasegaran said the private employers must comply with the new benefit which was announced in the 2020 Budget yesterday.

“If the public sector can do it, why can’t the private sectors,” he told reporters after launching JobsMalaysia Caring Carnival 2019 in Ipoh today.

According to Kulasegaran, the 90 days maternity leave would need to be implemented in accordance with the international standard, and action will be taken on companies that refuse to comply with the rule.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng when tabling the 2020 Budget in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday said the government will review the Employment Act 1955 in order to remain relevant to the current needs of the labour market.

Lim said the review will involve four matters, with the first being to look at increasing maternity leave from 60 days to 90 days effective 2021.

Meanwhile, Kulasegaran said the Malaysians@Work incentive salary initiative will be managed and credited into the EPF to prevent embezzlement by various parties, including employers.

“The government will pay through EPF because of the ministry and employers have a record of employees. It is also to prevent employers from misappropriation of funds,” he added.

The first programme, Graduates@Work is designed specifically for the hiring of graduates who have been unemployed for more than 12 months, and each graduate who secures work will receive a wage incentive of RM500 per month, for a duration of two years.

Employers meanwhile, will receive a hiring incentive of up to RM300 a month for each new hire for the same period.

Kulasegaran said so far, there are 260,000 jobs available to be applied by Malaysians in JobsMalaysia. - Bernama