Philip (centre) flanked by Socso Sarawak deputy director Dundang Undong (left) and Socso Sarawak assistant director (Enforcement unit) Asmawati Ahmad Moghni at a press conference yesterday.
KUCHING (June 10): The Social Security Organisation (Socso) has started its ‘Ops Kesan-13’ throughout Sarawak, an operation to track employers who fail to register their workers with Socso, since June 7, 2022.
Its state director Philip Sangkan said during the operation carried out for two days from June 7 to June 8, 687 employers throughout the state were found to have committed various offences, which saw a total of 151 compounds issued amounting to RM110,998.
“Most of the offences detected were failure to register their workers and also failure to contribute for their employees, and some employers registered their employees but did not contribute to Socso for them.
“For example, yesterday (June 8), in Kota Samarahan, there was a workshop with nine workers. The employer only registered one, that is a serious offence under Act 4 Section 4 and Section 5,” he said in a press conference yesterday.
He added failure to comply with Section 4 and Section 5 of the Employees Social Security Act 1969 or Section 14 and Section 15 of the Employment Insurance System Act, may result in a compound of up to RM5,000 or may be subject to prosecution in court and may be liable to a fine of up to RM10,000 or two years in prison or both.
“I call on employers or those who are self-employed (Orang Yang Berkerja Sendiri or OBS), if you have not yet registered or contributed to Socso, make sure you come to any Socso office in the state and register with us.
“Before we come and see you, you come and see us because we have given a long period of time, awareness, to those who are still not adhering to the regulations,” he said.
This regulation also applies to e-hailing drivers and riders delivering food considered as self-employed, domestic and foreign workers.
As for the domestic workers’ category, it includes maids, gardeners, personal drivers and others, whether foreigners or locals, whose contributions to Socso were made mandatory in June 2021, he said.
“They are all required to contribute under the provisions of the Self-Employment System Act 2017, which is mandatory.
“This also includes foreign workers who are legally employed who must contribute under the act. In fact, our enforcement will conduct raids in certain locations not only in Kuching but throughout the state that we have identified, including construction areas that we feel may have foreign workers,” he added.
He also said the Self-Employment Social Security Act 2017 has also extended its coverage to other informal sectors such as self-employed individuals, burger sellers, hawkers, small traders, actors, freelancers and those doing their own business from home, although not mandatory, but they are encouraged to contribute to Socso.
For this category (self-employed), they are supposed to contribute RM232 a year. However, the government is subsidising 80 per cent of their contributions, meaning they only need to contribute about RM46.60 monthly.
“Why not take the opportunity from here while it lasts until December 31, 2022. Although not mandatory, I encourage them to contribute, because they are not covered by any act. For e-hailing drivers and drivers delivering food, it is mandatory for them,” he said.
‘Ops Kesan’ at the national level was launched on June 1, 2022 to ensure that employers who employ at least one employee register with Socso as provided under its act, Section 4 and Section 5 of the Employees Safety Act 1969 (Act 4) and also the provisions of Section 14 and 15 of the Employment Insurance System Act (Act 800) and also the Self-Employment Social Security Act (Act 789) especially for those under the transport sector, namely the e-hailing drivers and riders delivering food.
In Sarawak, ‘Ops Kesan’ started on June 7, scheduled to run until end of June 2022.
Meanwhile, Philip said statistics as of March 2022 showed that Sarawak recorded a total of 38,427 employers registered under Act 4 with a total of 522,418 employees covered by Socso.
“During the transition to endemic phase, Socso believes there are still employers who actively employ at least one employee (regardless of total salary) or re-employ employees but have not registered to protect their employees under Act 4 and Act 800.
“Foreign workers who work legally in this country are also required to be registered with Socso from Jan 1, 2019 under Act 4,” he said.
From May 1 until May 31, 2022, Socso carried out ‘Ops Pemutihan’ to educate, provide awareness and information to employers on the importance of registering with Socso.
“We have distributed flyers and brochures to selected employers throughout the state of Sarawak. In Kuching alone, we have distributed more than 3,000 flyers to employers, including the self–employed, e-hailing drivers and riders and even to the markets.
“What we saw throughout May, there seems to be an increase in awareness among employers as well as the OBS. During the ‘Ops Pemutihan’, we give opportunities to the employers to register voluntarily, we do not give compounds, we encourage them to register voluntarily,” he said.
from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/3HdM1RA
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