‘EIS to be implemented next year’

KUALA LUMPUR: Beginning next year, the Employment Insurance System ( EIS) will be implemented, says Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot Jaem.

However, he said the first payment would only be made from Jan 1, 2019.

“As of now, the government has already contributed a total of about RM122 million for the EIS, just to make sure it takes off the ground,” he told reporters at the Human Resources Development Fund ( HRDF) annual Deepavali Open House celebration here yesterday.

More than 500 guests, including 20 children from Pertubuhan Kebajikan Thangam Il lam, celebrated the joyous event.

Riot also clarified that the EIS would not overlap with the existing Employment Termination Layoff Benefit (ETLB) scheme as claimed by certain parties.

“The current ETLB will continue to be implemented. This (EIS) is on top of the ETLB.

“This is the fi rst time the EIS is being implemented while ETLB has been there for many, many years. Of course, we do not want the ETLB to stop there, it must continue because they (employees and employers) have already contributed,” he said.

The EIS Bill 2017, which seeks to provide workers who lost their jobs with temporary financial assistance, was passed by the Dewan Rakyat with several amendments after being debated by 14 members of parliament last week.

Riot, when tabling the Bill for a second reading recently, said the insurance system would see a 0.4 per cent contribution from the insured pay, namely 0.2 per cent each from employer and employee.

He said it was important to support workers who lost their jobs, especially during economic downturns or recessions.

For employers, Riot said the implementation of the insurance system would increase the productivity of the company through employees who had undergone skills and re-training programmes, as well as reduce the pressure on them, if there was a need to reduce costs, downsize operations or in case of bankruptcy.