Its minister M Saravanan said the Industrial Relations Department, Labour Department, Socso and others had met with the Malindo Air management yesterday to ensure that the rights of the affected workers were protected and appropriate assistance given.
“Apart from compensation provided by the employer, the ministry will ensure that the affected employees receive unemployment benefits through the Employment Insurance System (EIS).
“At the same time, Socso will assist them in finding jobs through the MYFutureJobs portal.
“Malindo Air’s employees are also eligible to participate in training programmes (reskilling and upskilling) provided by Socso or the Human Resource Development Fund, where the training fees will be paid by the government,” he said in a statement today.
Saravanan said that during yesterday’s meeting, the airline’s management said it had received Employment Retention Programme (ERP) financial assistance for April and May.
It said the ERP aid for April amounting to RM1.26 million had been paid to 2,112 employees, and payment for May, amounting to RM1.48 million, was made to 2,478 employees.
“All employees of the company who received ERP aid were not laid off during the month. Malindo Airways also confirmed that all assistance received have been channelled to the affected employees,” he said.
He said records from Socso also showed the airline had received ERP payments amounting to RM240,000 for 200 employees in July and August.
Meanwhile, he said, the 439 airline staff who received notice of unpaid leave for a period of one year can assume that their contracts had been terminated and must file a job loss claim under EIS to receive assistance.
A total of 2,647 staff members have been retrenched up to Nov 1. The airline had asked 70% of its staff to take no-pay leave in April but reportedly asked them to take a voluntary long-term unpaid leave of one year the following month.
The airline industry has been struggling to cope with the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, with AirAsia Bhd and AirAsia X Bhd also retrenching 10% of their combined 24,000 employees in October.