It was promised nearly a year ago, but the wait will end by Dec 16 if the promise made recently by Siti Zailah Mohd Yusof, the deputy minister of women, family and community development, is fulfilled.
It will be the first real move to end sexual harassment in the country. There is currently no specific law against sexual harassment although provisions for the protection of women at the workplace were added in 2012 to the Employment Act of 1955.
In a statement to FMT, All Women’s Action Society (Awam) said the section on sexual harassment in the Employment Act gave substantial leeway to perpetrators.
“There are no specific clauses on protection or compensation for the complainant,” it said. “This means complainants are not able to access survivor-centric institutional mechanisms.”
It also said the act covered only formal work in the private sector, meaning that workers in the informal sector, such as domestic helps, interns and volunteers aren’t protected.
Engender Consultancy, a gender-equality movement, agreed. It said current laws must be amended to cover all forms of work and to protect the workers in those jobs.
However, law consultant Rachel Tan of Meca Employers Consulting Agency told FMT there was some form of protection against harassment in many areas,.
“Most companies accept sexual harassment as a serious misconduct and have zero tolerance towards it,” she said.
She noted that under section 81G of the Employment Act, employees in the private sector can file a complaint of sexual harassment against their employer or other employees.
After a complaint is filed, the employer will have to issue a show cause letter to the accused. The employer must then decide whether to continue with an internal investigation. If the accused were to deny the allegation, a domestic enquiry has to be conducted and a panel assembled to judge the case.
If found guilty, the accused can be sacked.
“Alternatively, victims of harassment can file a police report under the Penal Code or sue for civil damage,” Tan said.
“The harassment could be physical, oral or text-based. The degree of harassment would differ from case to case and the outcome would depend on the severity and type of harassment,”.
She agreed with Awam and Engender that there must be a sexual harassment act to bring together all the legislative progress made in the past 20 years.