Employers fret over EIS
Companies worry Employment Insurance Scheme will add to their burdens, increase operating costs
KUCHING: The Kuching Chinese General Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCGCCI) disagrees that the Employment Insurance Scheme ( EIS) will not burden employers in terms of costs.
Its secretary-general Jonathan Chai said under the proposed scheme, employers would have a statutory duty to make contributions and this clearly would increase the cost of operating businesses.
“How could you say that EIS will not increase the operating costs of business when businesses will be required to make contributions every month if the government decides to go ahead with the scheme?
“The remarks of the economist concerned were made on, among others, the assumption that retrenchment of workers happened to pace for automation and upgrading of technology.
“According to the economist, the proposed scheme would make it cheaper for employers to lay off workers in order to upgrade their technology and automate their businesses compared with the current workers’ protection.
“But not all employers who contribute to the scheme will go for upgrading of technology and if any employers intend to do so, they themselves should be the one responsible to deal with the retrenchment of their workers and not from the pool of funds where others are made to pay,” said Chai.
He said this yesterday in response to director of the Social Security Research Centre, Faculty
How could you say that EIS will not increase the operating costs of business when businesses will be required to make contributions every month...? Jonathan Chai, KCGCCI secretary-general
of Economics and Administration, Universiti Malaya Prof Datuk Dr Norma Mansor, who had recently asserted that EIS would not burden employers in terms of costs.
Chai said they “do not want any errant employers to take advantage of the proposed scheme where others are made to suffer, especially when someone is financially capable of upgrading the technology of his or her business.”