EMCO: Only essential service workers allowed in office, says Saravanan

PUTRAJAYA (July 2): Only workers in essential services are allowed to leave their homes in enhanced movement control order (EMCO) areas to go to work when the EMCO is in force, said Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M Saravanan.

Saravanan issued the reminder today following the announcement that most parts of Selangor and certain localities in the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur will be placed under the EMCO from July 3 to July 16 because of their high numbers of Covid-19 cases.

"Therefore, employers are required to abide by this order and allow their workers [in non-essential services] to work from home (WFH),” he said in a statement.

Saravanan reminded employers to abide by the EMCO and standard operating procedures (SOPs), especially on the number of workers allowed in the office or other workplaces.

He said the Ministry of Human Resources (MoHR) had received many complaints from workers that their employers threaten them with work termination if they refuse to work from the office.

He advised workers to report such errant employers to the ministry by using the Working for Workers (WFW) application.

Apart from WFH-related complaints, the app also has 16 other categories of complaints involving various labour issues.

"The ministry gives attention to complaints received and will take the appropriate action,” he said.

He said 1,878 complaints were recorded by the WFW app between May 23 and yesterday regarding the issue of employers disallowing their workers to work from home.

Selangor had the most number of WFH-related complaints at 696, followed by Kuala Lumpur (505), Johor (196) and Penang (123).

Saravanan said 59 compounds on violation of worker attendance capacity at the office or workplace were issued by the Labour Department of Peninsular Malaysia and Occupational Safety and Health Department between June 1 and July 1.

Get the latest news @ www.EdgeProp.my

Subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest stories and updates 

Click here for more property stories