MP suggests employers pay 1.5% EPF rate for foreign workers

MP suggests employers pay 1.5% EPF rate for foreign workers

Teresa Kok also proposes that foreign workers contribute 10% of their income to EPF, 1% less than Malaysians.

The government plans to make EPF contributions mandatory for foreign workers in 2025, saying this will be done in phases. (Bernama pic)
KUALA LUMPUR:
A backbencher has suggested that the government set an employer EPF contribution rate of 1.5% for each foreign worker.

Teresa Kok (PH-Seputeh) also proposed that foreign workers contribute 10% of their income to EPF, 1% less than Malaysian employees.

“This would mean that for a foreign worker with a basic pay of RM1,700, the employer would contribute RM20.50 to EPF while the worker contributes RM170, totalling RM190.50,” she said when debating the Supply Bill 2025 in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Under the 2025 budget, the government plans to make EPF contributions mandatory for foreign workers. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said that this would be done in phases.

This was met with brickbats by the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) and the Master Builders Association Malaysia, with FMM saying industry players were not consulted on the proposal.

The two groups had urged the government to delay the initiative.

Kok argued that the mandatory EPF contributions for foreign workers would protect employers from issues like workers “running away” or being poached by syndicates targeting migrants with valid work permits.

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