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Malaysia to have multi-tier foreign worker levy system, effective 1 Jan 2020

A new multi-tier levy system for foreign workers in Malaysia will take effect in Malaysia on 1 January 2020. This was announced by a joint committee meeting between Malaysia's Human Resources Ministry and Home Ministry in Putrajaya yesterday (28 February), Bernama reported.

Home Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who chaired the meeting alongside Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran, said the the readiness of the government and employers in the formal sector (particularly agriculture and manufacturing), and aspects of data integration, will be taken into account with the implementation.

However, he added that this multi-tier mechanism only allows a foreign workers dependency ration of up to 75% in the manufacturing sector.

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said a committee will be setup to assess the needs of companies or employers in this sector, whereby foreign workers are hired beyond the allowed ration on a case-by-case basis.

He explained: "This is to ensure that the company’s operations are not affected," further iterating that employers will be given more information on the levy system before its implementation.

He said: "Each level has a different levy. All proposals for the amount of levy have been included in the Foreign Workers' Management Independent Committee’s report. We cannot disclose it now because the report must get approval from the Cabinet."

As further cited in Bernama, he said the committee has agreed that "cooks, kitchen assistants and waiters were allowed to be employed in the restaurant sub-sector."

Photo / Human Resources Minister M. Kulasegaran's Facebook

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