MEF Says Employers are Baffled by the Latest SOPs for Workers

According to the Malaysian Employers Federation, employers are confused about the newest standard operating procedures (SOPs) announced by the National Security Council for areas in Phases 1, 2 and 3 of the National Recovery Plan (NRP).

The organisation's president, Datuk Dr Syed Hussain Syed Husman, stated that the latest SOPs for these phases of the NRP do not make any sense. He said that these SOPs contradict the government's policy to ease the movement of vaccinated persons and the urgent need to address the priorities between protecting lives and livelihoods.

 

Quarantine and tests

Syed Hussain cited the quarantine period for employees to work off-site as an instance. He said that during the first Movement Control Order (MCO) when vaccines were not available, the quarantine period for employees to work off-site was only three days. However, based on today's SOPs, the quarantine period has been extended to 14 days and applies to fully vaccinated staff.

He also said that employers in sectors such as construction, manufacturing, quarrying and mining in the concerned areas are now required to test all workers once every two weeks, including the fully vaccinated ones, at the cost of the employers.

Employees in certain sectors are required to undergo Covid-19 testing every two weeks.

According to him, RTK Antigen test kits cost RM40 each. He provided an example that a manufacturer with 1,000 workers would need to pay RM80,000 to test all workers every two weeks, which would amount to RM160,000 in a month, just for test kits. 

Syed Hussain also added that companies are experiencing a loss of productivity because of the unreasonable disruptions, the stress to logistic operators, and rising anxiety levels among workers who needed to provide samples every two weeks. 

 

Too much cost involved

MEF said that its members are also puzzled by the requirement to test all workers, in contrast to the policy to test symptomatic workers only and exclude asymptomatic persons. 

According to Syed Hussain, businesses are starting to open up without jobs while managing collection and cash flow problems and that the latest SOP will kill more businesses. 

He said that it is too much to add additional cost and stress to businesses at a time when they cannot afford to pay salaries and overheads. 

MEF urged the policymakers to put themselves in the business operation position before executing additional cost decisions. It said that policymakers should be practical and safe instead of introducing policies that don't affect themselves but are harmful to businesses.

Source: The Edge Markets

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