This followed claims by many that the migrant workers’ passports were confiscated, besides them being denied rest including toilet breaks in order to settle their recruitment fees.
“If any violations are uncovered, we will make immediate corrective actions and moving forward, we will suspend our business with companies that are found to be in violation (of terms),” said Samsung as quoted by The Guardian.
Panasonic said it was taking the allegations “very seriously”, adding its policies had been clearly spelt out in agreements with labour supply companies.
“We do not tolerate breaches of these terms,” it said.
Both companies do not allow the confiscation of passports or charging migrant workers recruitment fees, according to The Guardian.
The daily in interviews with workers found that migrant workers had been forced to work 14-hour shifts to repay money to recruitment agents in Nepal, some amounting up to 115,000 Nepalese rupees (RM4,570), 10 times higher than the RM400 cap on recruitment fees set by the Nepalese government last year.
They said they had no choice but to continue working in order to pay the debts.
Workers also told The Guardian they were only paid RM700 – half of the minimum wage amount fixed by Putrajaya.
“We feel terrible because we have a big loan to pay back. You have to work for three years just to pay it off,” said a worker at a plant in Johor Bahru.
The Guardian also described workers residence as overcrowded, with one hostel filled with “14 men crammed into one mouldy room”.
“They all shared one broken toilet and two shower cubicles, which opened directly on to a cooking area with a single gas cooker,” said the report.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch Asia said recruitment companies were indulging in forced labour.
“Taking someone from Nepal and putting them in a factory in Malaysia costs money, and if these costs are not being factored into the price of a phone, or a microwave or a speaker, then they are complicit in a system that expects the workers to suffer as a result,” said HRW Asia deputy director, Phil Robertson.