An officer (left) makes a point to a representative of a business premises.
BINTULU: A total of 60 business premises were inspected during a special statutory inspection by Sarawak Labour Department here on Tuesday, with 399 violations detected.
The operation was led by its Sarawak deputy director Sulaiman Ismail, and involved 63 enforcement officers from headquarters and all branches statewide.
The department in a press statement, said the special operation was conducted to raise greater awareness among employers to comply with the law, and to ensure that their employees are aware of their rights under the labour law.
The violations included failure of employers to keep personal data (50 cases), failure to keep the terms and conditions of employment (49 cases), failure to keep the payrolls and allowances (40 cases), failure to provide payrolls and allowances to employees (36 cases), and failure to give notice under Section 60A (23 cases).
Other violations were failure to pay overtime pay to employees (19 cases), failure to show rest day notice (19 cases), failure to pay working salary on holidays (17 cases), failure to give one rest day every week (14 cases), and requesting workers to work for 10 hours in a day (14 cases).
The department also issued 54 violation notifications to employers to ensure that corrective actions are taken.
Also, five investigation papers were opened to investigate violations under Section 119 of Labour Ordinance (Sarawak Chapter 76) for employing non-resident employees without a licence.
Similar operations have been carried out from June until September, with 379 inspections conducted at wholesale, retail, vehicle repairs, manufacturing, arts, entertainment and recreation, food premises and reflexology centres.
In the previous operations, a total of 347 violation notifications were issued which involved 1,968 violations, and 54 investigation papers for employing non-residents.
The department is carrying out statutory inspection at workplaces from time to time, and so far 6,233 inspections have been carried out throughout Sarawak under Labour Ordinance (Sarawak Chapter 76), National Wages Consultative Council Act 2011, Minimum Retirement Age Act 2012, and Worker’s Compensation Act 1952.
A total of 174 investigation papers were opened by the department in the first 10 months of this year, pertaining to violations under Labour Ordinance (Sarawak Chapter 76) and National Wages Consultative Council Act 2011.