KUALA LUMPUR: The government has jumped the gun by passing the Employment Act 1955 amendments without the necessary manpower to see it through, claim labour groups.

The enforcement of changes, initially scheduled for Sept 1, has been pushed to January.

The groups pointed out that the Human Resources Ministry could not even begin to handle the minimum wage complaints, let alone the long overdue amendments.

Government Contract Workers' Network (JPKK) national secretary M. Sivaranjani said the ministry had bitten off more than it could chew by passing the amendments without a practical enforcement plan.

"They told us in a meeting that they were drowning under the backlog of minimum wage complaints because of their limited numbers (of enforcement officers)."

Checks by the New Straits Times with the Labour Department found that there were under 700 enforcement officers serving Peninsular Malaysia and Labuan.

"They told us that their request for more funds to recruit additional enforcement officers was also denied in the last two budgets," added Sivaranjani.

However, she said the officers did not disclose the volume of the backlog.

"We get at least 15 calls a week, that's at least 240 complaints since May."

Sivaranjani said the timing of the two separate rulings also clashed as the act's amendments were passed in late March, while the RM1,500 minimum wage came into effect on May 1.

She added that the amendments also removed the wage cap, so all employees irrespective of their...

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