KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 — There are enough laws to address discrimination against employee at work involving disabled persons.
Human Resources Minister V. Sivakumar said based on statistics from the Labour Department, as of now, only eight cases have been reported.
“Out of the eight cases, two involve cash payment and the other six are regarding other matters not related to cash payment.
“So that’s all that are in the records of the Labour Department. The amount is not big.
“But I don’t deny that there could be cases that are not reported and not investigated, so of the eight cases that have been handled, all of them have been investigated and action has been taken. So we have to take it as the cases have been resolved,” Sivakumar told a press conference here at the Parliament building today.
He added that looking at existing laws, it is sufficient to ensure that these kinds of discrimination can be prevented.
“We are also looking at the amendment of the Employment Act 1955 which took effect this year January 1, the new provision included giving powers to the Labour Department director-general to investigate and take action against such cases.
Under the Act, Section 69F gives power to the director-general to inquire into and decide on any dispute between an employee and his employer in respect of any matter relating to discrimination in employment without the limitation of a salary cap.
The provision also states that if an employer who fails to comply with any order of the director-general issued under subsection (1) commits an offence shall, on conviction, be liable to a fine not exceeding RM50,000; and shall also, in the case of a continuing offence, be liable to a daily fine not exceeding RM1,000 for each day the offence continues after conviction.
“I think these laws are sufficient, we don’t need a new law,” he said.
He added that Malaysia was different from other countries whereby they may have more cases recorded therefore there is a need for a separate law enacted for this concern.
