OFF DAY FOR MAIDS SHOULD BE IN CONTRACT, SAYS MALAYSIAN BAR

KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian Bar Thursday commended the
Human Resources Ministry’s announcement that it will amend the Employment Act to
compel employers to give domestic workers one day off per week.

“The compulsory off day should also be incorporated into individual
employment contracts. This should be a secondary and supplementary step”, said
its president, K.Ragunath.

He said this was a small step forward in upholding the rights of hundreds of
thousands of domestic workers who were prone to severe abuse and labour
exploitation because they received scant protection under the Employment Act.

"It is crucial that this proposal be implemented by amending the Employment
Act because the imposition of a statutory obligation will allow the Ministry to
enforce the provision and prosecute those who breach it," he said in a statement
Thursday.

Ragunath said currently numerous terms of the Employment Act were
inapplicable to domestic workers and it limited the number of hours that they
could be compelled to work.

“Codification of the Minister’s proposal will also make it applicable to all
domestic workers, both local and foreign,” he added.

He said the domestic workers were human beings and should benefit from the
same rights as other workers, without discrimination.

-- BERNAMA