OT and public holiday work in January - Pay workers in January not end February?

Workers silence when rights reduced simply encourages government to reduce and reduce worker rights....

The Malaysian government, in 2012, amended the law about the time of payment of wages. It allowed the employer to delay the payment of overtime and work on public holidays(and rest day) to the following month.

That means, worker does overtime in January, worked on Sunday and public holidays in January - well now he will only get paid for that work when he receives his February wages - now, that needs to be paid not later than 7th March..

Before this, the worker would have to be paid when he receives the January wages - so, now there can be one(1) month delay - Will the worker get any additional interest? Nope - well, this is not logical - for even if I keep my money in the bank for a month, I get interest...if I invest, maybe even more. That means employers benefited - they could hold on to money belonging to workers for a month, and a smart employer will make more money with that....

BUT THE WORKERS AND UNIONS IN MALAYSIA SEEM TO BE OK WITH THIS...UNIONS ALSO SEEM TO BE OK? WHY? IT MAKES NO SENSE..Have Malaysian workers become so weak? Have their Unions become weak? Have they just lost their will to fight?

Now, normally if we get someone to do some work - we usually have to pay a deposit, maybe even 50%, and certainly pay the balance as soon as the work is completed - if we delay, we will have to pay interest. Look at Housing Developers, when the finish a particular stage of their work, they ask for payment..

Thus, when a worker works on a Public Holiday, he should rightly have been paid on that day or the following day at worse. Likewise for overtime, etc ...ANYWAY, by agreeing that money be paid at the end on the month - that already is unfair to the worker...BUT we accepted being paid at the end of the month for the monthly waged worker. So workers compromised for the benefit of the employer..

And then the UMNO-BN government amended the law again - helping employers even further saying - now no need to pay OT, work on Sunday(or rest day) and work on public holiday wages at the end of the month - you can delay ONE more month. (Government made it a law - and so workers easily lost their rights to receive all payment of work done in January when they receive January wages....and NO PROTEST - 'silence' from the over 14 million workers ...?? Nowadays, if you are even late paying your phone bills - you get notices vide SMS and even voice calls, and then they cut your services partially..then fully...SO, would ASTRO,CELCOM, TNB, etc ...be OK if the we all paid our bills one month later? I do not think so - but our workers in Malaysia it is OK to delay for one(1) month....What is the Opposition going to do about this? Did they even protest this ..are they demanding a repeal of this bad provision? Or are they not bothered about this 'petty issue'? Some employers may be paying workers what they are entitled at the end of the month, but how many other employers have taken advantage to delay payment...

More than 10 million workers and their families may be affected - and that is a lot of voters...Fight for better rights...or even fight for your rights is something many do not understand - they allow rights to be withered away slowly...and slowly - They simply 'do not want to rock the boat'...Why? FEAR? Look at the BN component parties, and even the UMNO members at the last General Meeting - they did not even ask for an explanation about the matters connetcted to 1MDB, Najib, etc ... well, they serve as 'good examples' for the ordinary people - When your rights are taken away, when you are 'stepped on' or exploited - the Malaysian way is to accept it and carry on living ...???? A good culture..or a bad one? 

COST OF LIVING increasing - and certainly the workers want their money NOW not next month... Why did the National Unions not make noise...or be still campaigning against that amendment to the Employment Act? Have the Union leaders been compromised - or too fearful? I say that people who are 'scared to act' or lead workers in their struggle should just resign...? Why did you contest - was it just for the 'position'? 

Guess what, if Employer cannot pay one(1) month later, Malaysian government says you can apply for a longer delay for the payment of OT, etc ... No limit in the law - so maybe 12 months may also be a reasonable request...

Is this the kind of rights that Malaysians want for our workers?

The principal Act is amended by substituting for section 19 the following section:

"Time of payment of wages

19. (1) Subject to subsection (2), every employer shall pay to each of his employees not later than the seventh day after the last day of any wage period the wages, less lawful deductions earned by such employee during such wage period.

(2) Wages for work done on a rest day, gazetted public holiday referred to in paragraphs 60D(1)(a) and (b) and overtime referred to in section 60A shall be paid not later than the last day of the next wage period.

(3) Notwithstanding subsections (1) and (2), if the Director General is satisfied that payment within such time is not reasonably practicable, he may, on the application of the employer, extend the time of payment by such number of days as he thinks fit.". -EMPLOYMENT (AMENDMENT) ACT 2012 (In Force from:  1 April 2012 [PU(B) 85/2012])