KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 1 — As many as 40,000 security guards in the country continue to be underpaid or paid irregularly for their work, according to Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) secretary-general Kamarul Baharin Mansor.
He estimates that this figure make up some 80 per cent of the security guard workforce in the country, Sinar Harian reported today,
Kamarul said MTUC had made workplace visits to schools and construction sites, and found that only two out of 10 companies surveyed had complied with the Employment Act 1955 in paying their security guards.
“When MTUC did the survey, we realised that their salary slips did not state the details of their overtime hours and overtime rate, and most of them were paid in a lump-sum,” he was quoted saying.
“When the minimum wage is RM1,200, they are being paid RM1,800 to RM2,100 with their overtime wages, but even though [the minimum wage] has been raised to RM1,500, the amount they received is still the same.”
He also claimed that many employers had not provided “punch card” to the security guards denoting the time they clocked in-and-out of work as a tactic to refuse overtime pay.
“All of these are against the law but the security guards will not make any complaint because they are worried that their jobs will be at stake,” Kamarul told the Malay daily.
He claimed that MTUC had received similar complaints of underpayment from the security guards since 2020, adding that those employed in the construction and cleaning businesses were the most affected.
Malaysia made several amendments to the Employment Act that took effect as of May 1 this year, which include a floor wage of RM1,500 a month.
