Foreign workers, maids to be covered under Socso from next year

GEORGE TOWN: Foreign workers, including domestic maids, will be covered under the Social Security Organisation (Socso) early next year.

Announcing this today, Human Resources Minister M Kulasegaran said this move was to standardise labour laws in the country to match conventions under the International Labour Organisation (ILO), where labour laws have to be uniform and universal.

He said at present the country’s 1.9 million legal foreign workers are covered under the Workmen’s Compensation Act 1952 and any individual insurance policy taken by employers for their foreign workers.

Kulasegaran said the outdated Workmen’s Compensation Act is to be abolished soon as Socso’s benefits alone would suffice as its benefits outweigh the one-off pay-out to workers of only RM20,000.

He said with just an estimated “RM14 to RM15” contributed to Socso, workers stand to benefit vastly as they are covered by insurance and their dependents will receive “life-long” payments.

Kulasegaran said Socso has one of the best rehabilitation hospitals in Southeast Asia in Melaka and workers can expect to recover fully from their injuries.

He said the RM500 million hospital rivals others in the country, saying the hospital accelerates the healing process.

Last week, the government announced that e-hailing and taxi drivers are required to register and make contributions under the Self Employment Social Security Scheme under Socso.

So far, only 5,197 out of 100,000 taxi and e-hailing drivers have contributed to the scheme, Bernama reported.

According to Socso’s records, 6.8 million active employees nationwide, under 435,802 employers, had been registered as of December 2017, Kulasegaran said.

He said 1,464 employers failed to register with Socso in 2015 while 1,608 employers failed to do so in 2016 and 1,544 employers last year.

Earlier, Kulasegaran visited the Bukit Kukus landslide site with Penang Island mayor Yew Tung Seang and state executive councillors Phee Boon Poh and Yeoh Soon Hin.

Kulasegaran was there to inspect the site closer after a briefing by the Department of Occupational Safety and Health Malaysia.