PUTRAJAYA, May 20 — The government has agreed to extend the invalidity scheme to foreign workers, Human Resources Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong said.
He said this decision was agreed upon during a joint committee meeting on the management of foreign workers chaired by him and Home Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail here today.
He said the extension of the invalidity scheme was in line with the Employees’ Social Security Act 1969 (Act 4).
“Under Act 4, local workers are covered by the Employment Injury Scheme and the invalidity scheme, whereas foreign workers only have the Employment Injury Scheme.
“Today’s meeting agreed to extend the social security coverage of the invalidity scheme to foreign workers in the country. The scheme provides 24-hour coverage for invalidity or death due to any cause and not related to the employment,” he said at a joint press conference.
Sim said the benefits under the invalidity scheme include invalidity pension, invalidity grants and funeral benefits.
“Under the scheme, RM4,500 is for the repatriation of the foreign worker’s remains/ashes to the home country (in the event of death),” he said.
He said with the introduction of the scheme, the Social Security Organisation (Socso) was expected to save more than RM25.38 million annually.
Previously, Socso assisted with repatriation via its corporate social responsibility initiative.
Sim said the Human Resources Ministry will establish a complaint unit for foreign workers or draft standard operating procedures (SOP) for the group.
“This is part of the reform and renewal of the Labour Department… a dedicated unit or SOP to handle complaints from foreign workers.”
— Bernama
