Labour Law Reform Coalition (LLRC) co-chairmen N Gopal Kishnam and Irene Xavier said these reforms were part of the human resources ministry’s previous proposal, and covered the issue of equal pay to women who do the same job as their male colleagues, among other things.

They said the government should address both direct and indirect discrimination against women, adding that equal pay as defined by the International Labour Organization (ILO) C111 convention on discrimination should be included in the EB2021 amendments.

“There is neither a definition of discrimination in Section 2 nor criteria of grounds for discrimination such as gender, religion, race or disabilities as stated in the ministry’s previous proposal.

“The current section in EB2021 is relatively weak when compared with the original proposal,” they said in a statement.

LLRC said the government should also withdraw the restrictions on the employment of foreign spouses as it will benefit women who are in a binational marriage and help them secure their economic autonomy.

Other changes that it would like to see is paid maternity leave increased to 98 days and paid paternity leave to 14 days.

They also said the government should amend Section 60A to implement 40 hours of work per week when amending the Employment Act in the future.

“The government should show its commitment to enhancing the well-being of workers in Malaysia by including the provisions before the bill is passed in both houses.

“When this round of Employment Act amendments is concluded, the human resources ministry should continue to engage stakeholders to deliberate further reforms in the Act,” it said.

However, Gopal and Xavier said they were both pleased with the changes made to the Employment Act 1959 and Trade Union Act 1959.