DISCUSSIONS will be held between the Human Resources Ministry and the Finance Ministry to address the issue of employees who have yet to be paid the RM1,500 minimum wage as stipulated by law.

Deputy Human Resources Minister Mustapha Sakmud said this involved workers in the cleaning and security sectors because their job contracts were inked before the implementation of the new minimum wage order on May 1 last year.

“This (issue) involves contracts that were agreed upon before May 1 last year. Discussions are ongoing between our ministry and the Finance Ministry to ensure that the companies involved increase the salaries in accordance with the new minimum wage order,” he said in reply to Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman (Muda-Muar).

Syed Saddiq had said before that about 45,000 people who did cleaning work for the Education Ministry were not getting paid the minimum wage.

In a supplementary question, Afnan Hamimi Taib Azamudden (PN-Alor Setar) asked Mustapha about the mechanism to root out companies that were not following the new minimum wage order.

The deputy minister said the ministry, through the Labour Department, would carry out inspections on the ground.

“We have carried out a total of 28,722 inspections on employers. We have also issued 2,659 compliance orders and 21 charges involving a total compound of RM35,700.”

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2023/03/24/ministries-addressing-minimum-wage-underpayment