Dzulkefly: No order for employees to work from home yet
Malaysia will not instruct employees to work from home in light of the novel coronavirus outbreak as there is no such necessity for now, says the Health Minister.
Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said while there were calls for allowing workers to work remotely, he said such a decision was left to the discretion of employers.
“At the moment, we are not at the stage which warrants such a move.
“Even though some countries have decided to implement this, we will not simply follow them.
“Our decisions are based on assessments by our experts at the CPRC (Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre) and we assess the situation on a daily basis.
“What we decide to implement will be based on the interests of our own country,” Dr Dzulkefly told a press conference here.
However, he said the government would not rule out implementing such measures in the future if there was a need.
The Human Resources Ministry has said employees who were ordered to be quarantined due to the coronavirus must be given sick leave by their employees.
A set of guidelines of the 2019nCoV released by the ministry also stated that employees cannot be asked to utilise their annual leave entitlement or take unpaid leave during the quarantine period.
“Employers must provide paid sick leave or hospitalisation entitlement during the quarantine period to employees receiving orders from registered medical practitioners, regardless whether the employee is quarantined at home or at the hospital.
“Employers are encouraged to provide extra remuneration to employees with quarantine orders exceeding sick leave or hospitalisation,” the guidelines state.
In China, many companies have encouraged their employees to work from home.
Tech companies such as Tencent, Alibaba and ByteDance are among those that have instructed their staff to work remotely and communicate via teleconferencing.
The move is meant to contain the spread of the virus, which has so far recorded over 40,000 positive cases and over 900 deaths worldwide.