Reminder: Housing and amenities rules for workers in Malaysia coming into place effective 1 Sep

Amendments made to the Workers' Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities Act 1990 will officially take effect from 1 September 2020 (Tuesday). In compliance with these amendments, employers will have to either build their own accommodation for their workers, or house them in the Centralised Labour Quarters provided by the Labour Department. 

This was confirmed by Malaysia's Ministry of Human Resources yesterday (26 August), during Human Resources Minister M Saravanan's visit to Top Glove's facilities in Shah Alam.

Prior to this, the amendments to the Act had taken force on 1 June 2020, with the government allowing employers a grace period of up to 31 August to make the necessary preparations. 

A brief on the amendments

These amendments, which were passed in Parliament in July 2019, had been extended to cover housing and accommodation for workers in all sectors, across Peninsular Malaysia and Labuan.

Explaining this in May this year, Minister Saravanan said: "Act 446, (amendment) 2019 also hopes to enhance the 2018 guidelines of accommodation for foreign workers that were prepared by the Peninsular Malaysia Labour Department.

"This covers a minimum standard for space requirement for the workers' accommodations, basic facilities for the housing and workers, and safety and hygiene elements that employers need to put emphasis on."

He added that this decision came as foreign workers were among those with a high risk in the spread of COVID-19, given they are "cramped and crowded into single housing units that have poor hygiene."

For more detailed information on the Act and its amendments, click through below:

• Malaysian employers have till 31 August to comply with Act on workers' housing and amenities
• Malaysia passes bill on workers' housing and amenities: What you need to know

Photo / Ministry of Human Resources' Facebook page