Johor Health and Environment Committee chairman R. Vidyananthan has given a total figure of 15,597 employees in Johor that had their salaries cut or being retrenched during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period, with 11,110 employees receiving payment cuts, 1,443 being laid off and 180 workers quitting their employment.
According to Vidyananthan’s daily Johor COVID-19 updates dated 30th April, the data was collected by Johor Labour Department where 398 Johor employers have made their application to state their employees’ termination or payment reduction due to the requirement being made under Section 63 of the Employment Act 1955 for employers to submit any statement of employment being withdrawn or terminated through the PK Form.
The PK Form, an official government form is required to be submitted to the nearest labour office. The form carries information such as reasons for the retrenchment, number of workforce, number of workers involved in the voluntary separation scheme, and etc.
Vidyananthan said the total figure of 15,597, included 1,443 permanent retirements, voluntary layoffs (180), temporary layoffs (2,864) and salary reductions (11,110).
“The Johor Labour Department and DOSH will contact the employers to advise them in complying with the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342) and if the employers still fails to comply with the directive, the special task force will contact the employer to present themselves for the purpose of complying with the enforcement order,” said Vidyanathan.
Disobeying the order will see a visit of the special task force at their premises and it may or may not involve the police to enforce the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342).
He has also updated that the state authorities are monitoring employers closely and extended it to their related accommodation providers which are involved directly in the management of foreign workers all over the state.
