KUCHING: Amendments to the Sarawak Labour Ordinance (SLO) have been finalised and submitted to the Ministry of Human Resources where the next step is to be sent to the Attorney General's Department for further evaluation.
Deputy Minister in the Sarawak Premier's Department (Labour, Immigration and Project Monitoring), Datuk Gerawat Gala said, it is to ensure that the amendments are in line with the International Labour Convention and also the latest amendment to the Employment Act 1955 (Amendment) 2022 which was approved in Parliament on March 2022 and has been in effect on January 1, 2023, for the benefit of both employers and employees.
He explained that the SLO is a law used only in Sarawak, but this law is a Federal law and once it has been presented and passed in Parliament, it does not need to be presented and passed in the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly.
"Regarding the SLO, we have tried to finalise the amendments to the Sarawak state labour law and I am proud that we have received mutual agreement from the Ministry of Human Resources in Kuala Lumpur, where the amendments have been agreed and submitted to the ministry.
"It is our hope that the amendments will be tabled in the next parliamentary session because many of the amendments are designed for the benefit of workers in Sarawak," he said.
He said this when met by the media after the Sarawak Level Labour Day 2024 celebration organised by MTUC Sarawak Division here, on Wednesday.
Earlier in his speech, Datuk Gerawat also said that among the proposed amendments was a seven-day paternity leave for male employees so that they could celebrate the birth of a child, take care of their wives who have just given birth and complete matters such as child registration.
In addition, maternity leave is increased from 60 days to 98 days where this proposal is in line with the Maternity Protection Convention 2000 which stated that the period of maternity leave should not be less than 14 weeks.
He added that the amendments also included a reduction in weekly working hours from 48 hours to 45 hours to increase labour productivity and preserve the welfare of workers and families. -UKASnews
