They said this involved 18 former and current workers with the company who have not been paid their salaries either in full or part, believed to be over the past few years.
Ten probe papers remain open while five have been closed.
“The total claims amounted to about RM397,000. Of the total number of files, five involving seven employees have been concluded with the company told to pay them RM171,600.
“However, it is understood that SAS has only settled RM79,200 involving three workers,” one source told FMT.
He said once investigations are concluded, the company would usually be given a period of time to make the payment to the affected workers.
“If they don’t then the department can press charges against SAS. In fact, the Subang Jaya labour office is preparing to take legal action against the company under Section 19(1) of the Employment Act 1955 for late payment of wages,” he said.
On Thursday, FMT reported that 68 former and current staff of SAS sent a petition to transport minister Loke Siew Fook and human resources minister Steven Sim, urging them to order SAS to immediately pay all outstanding salaries and statutory deductions.
Another source said although 68 signed the petition, only 18 have lodged reports with the labour department.
The source said the others should also file reports if they want action taken against the company and get back what is owed to them.
“However, the human resources ministry has asked the Selangor labour department to engage with the group to try and resolve their problems. It’s not true that the ministry has not done anything after the reports were made,” he said.
SAS ran into problems with the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) after it failed to remit millions in deducted EPF contributions and taxes to the statutory bodies over the last few years, forcing the regulator not to renew the air service permit (ASP) which lapsed on Feb 29.
ASP is mandatory for any air service company to provide passenger service and hire for rewards. Following this, the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) suspended SAS’s air operations certificate (AOC) for 90 days from March 12.
On Wednesday, the CAAM decided to extend the suspension to July 31, ordering SAS to put things in order by then.
The company, formed in 1992, offers helicopter and fixed wing services, as well as city tours, air gliding and seaplane operations.