KUALA LUMPUR – Five out of the nine foreign workers involved in the collapse of a construction project in Batu Maung, near Bayan Lepas, Penang, do not have records of contributions and are not registered with the Social Security Organisation (Socso).
The employer’s failure to register and pay the foreign workers’ contributions clearly violates Section 6 of the Workers’ Social Security Act 1969 (Act 4).
Human Resources Minister, V. Sivakumar, insists that his ministry, through Socso, will take legal action against the employers of the foreign workers at the logistics warehouse construction project site.
“Failure to register and contribute for foreign workers can be prosecuted under Section 94, Act 4, which carries a fine of RM10,000 or two years in prison, or both, if convicted.
“The ministry will not compromise with any employer who neglects to register and pay foreign workers’ contributions, thereby denying them their social protection rights,” he said today.
All foreign workers, including those serving as labourers in the construction sector, are required to register and contribute to Socso, effective January 1, 2020.
The results of the ministry’s review of four foreign workers, two of whom died and two who were seriously injured in the tragedy, found that they had registration records with Socso but no contributions since being employed between 2020 and July 2023.
However, another foreign worker who died had no record of registration and contributions with Socso.
Based on statistics as of October 31, Sivakumar said that more than 1.88 million foreign workers are protected through the Work Disaster Protection Scheme in accordance with Act 4, with 4,566 accidents involving foreign workers reported to Socso.
“However, the amount of contribution coverage for foreign workers compared to the influx of foreign labor into Malaysia shows that there are still a few employers who fail to comply with the provisions of Act 4,” he added. – November 30, 2023