KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) has called for errant employers found flaunting the Covid-19 regulations and SOPs to be hauled up and brought to book.

       “As responsible employers, we make sure that our workplaces are safe and secure by sanitising the premises, implementing the necessary SOPs, and providing time-off to employees for screening and inoculation.

       “We work closely with the government and the community so that we win the battle against Covid-19, ” president Datuk Dr Syed Hussain Syed Human J.P. said in a statement Tuesday.

       He said some of the errant employers continued to flaunt the laws and regulations without having any regard to the health and safety of their employees or the public.

       “We had received many comments from the enforcement units and the public that employers are stubborn and do not follow the SOPs.

       “These small group of (errant) employers are giving employers in general a very bad image, and they deserve to be punished.

       “We must take serious action as the image of employers needs to be protected, ” Syed Hussain said.

       Currently, under the Emergency (Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases) (Amendment) Ordinance 2021, companies or corporations that violate the SOPs can be fined up to RM50, 000.

       Syed Hussain urged the government to look into this as the penalties that were being imposed seem to not produce the desired results and ineffective to deter these employers.

       In addition, he said there was a need to put an end to the illegal business operators utilising undocumented foreign workers to run their operations as this has become a big problem for Malaysia internationally.

       Syed Hussain also said that the government could also look at incentivising employers who maintain a lean record on SOPs to fight this pandemic such as additional tax breaks for good governance.