PUTRAJAYA: Employers will be responsible for paying the levy of their foreign workers from tomorrow, said Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
He said this was enforced under the Employer Mandatory Commitment and the employers would be disallowed from deducting the levy from the wages of their workers.
Ahmad Zahid, who is also Home Minister, said this policy change would ensure that bosses were more responsible in taking care of their workers and avert cases of foreign workers running way, changing sectors of work illegally, and overstaying and becoming illegal immigrants.
Ahmad Zahid said employers should also abide by the Guidelines on the Minimum Standard of Foreign Workers Accommodation so that the workers would stay under roof provided by the employers.
Zahid said the government had received reports that employers did not pay wages in accordance with the minimum wage, restricted the movement of
foreign workers and kept their passports.
“There were instances where foreign workers ran away and the employers washed their hands off the matter and left it to the Immigration Department, police and other agencies to locate and send back the workers,” he said.
“Such incidents gave room to irresponsible people to indulge in human trafficking,” he added.