Participants of the roundtable session organised by the Society for Equality, Respect And Trust for All Sabah.
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Labour Ordinance needs urgent reform, says the Society for Equality, Respect And Trust for All Sabah (Serata).
Speaking at a stakeholder roundtable on Sabah employment rights, Serata president Sabrina Melisa Aripen said that the law is “even older than the formation of Malaysia” at a forum titled “Promoting CSO-Partnerships to assist with labour issues in Sabah”.
She added that the Ordinance had not been amended for at least 18 years.
The session was aimed at identifying the ways in which CSOs may support or encourage the current initiatives revolving around the amendment of the Sabah Labour Ordinance 1950.
The event was held at a hotel here on March 4 and was attended by representatives from the Sabah Labour Department, Malaysia Trade Union Congress (MTUC) Sabah chapter, Sabah Employers Association (SEA), State Human Resource Development Department as well as a number of Sabah-based civil society organisations (CSOs).
At the roundtable, Sabrina said people working in Peninsular Malaysia and the Federal Territories were covered by the Malaysian Employment Act which provides benefits such as seven days of paternity leave and 98 days of maternity leave.
She added that they also have an added layer of protection on certain matters where employers were legally required to investigate allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace.
“However, this is non-existent in the Sabah Labour Ordinance, and from what we understand, the Sarawak Labour Ordinance as well.
“Our biggest concern is how many employees in Sabah don’t actually know their rights as employees, and thus may be easily exploited by unscrupulous employers.
“We also feel that reforms are urgently needed so that Sabahans have access to benefits and protections equal to those working in West Malaysia,” she said.
Towards this end, Sabrina said Serata was currently working on improving the understanding of relevant laws and policies pertaining to employment and sexual harassment in Sabah.
She said that Serata is also committed to encouraging the implementation of best practices from recommended international standards to reduce the inequalities within the state.
Leading up to the stakeholder roundtable discussion, Serata had already conducted a three-day workshop, titled “Opis Idamanku” in January 2023, which addressed various issues surrounding the workplace and employment laws relevant to working people in Sabah.
This workshop was targeted to fellow CSOs to better understand the context of the current issues like addressing sexual harassment in the workplace and the need for parental leave as recommended by international best practices.
It was also aimed at getting familiar with the roles and responsibilities of government authorities such as the Social Security Organisation (Socso) and the state Labour Department.
Meanwhile, Sabrina said that Serata is still collecting data on the general public’s knowledge about their rights as employees in an online survey which will be published in a report and publicly accessible.
The survey can be accessed at https://ddec1-0-en-ctp.trendmicro.com:443/wis/clicktime/v1/query?url=https%3a%2f%2fbit.ly%2fSabahEmploymentRights&umid=a9469d4e-bffa-4631-888f-f08c3304f1ab&auth=4e0d3f135bd52a3661045cb3bfe08c528fcdd524-c1e525c657d83ac2c05b7d497a2952fffcb7892f
