Minimum standards for Workers’ Housing and Amenities to be introduced

Our Firm issued an Employment E-Insight on the Workers’ Minimum Standards of Housing and Amenities (Amendment) Bill 2019 yesterday.  This E-Insight can be accessed here.

With regard to item 4 of the E-Insight, the Ministry of Human Resources has clarified that the Bill does not make it compulsory for all employers to provide housing to their employees (except in the plantation and mining sectors under the existing provisions) and that the standards prescribed in the Bill will only apply where employers choose to provide housing accommodation to their employees. 1

While the Ministry’s clarification is certainly helpful to employers, it is unclear from the Bill whether the requirement to provide such accommodation is mandatory.

 
 

1 See “Housing is not compulsory under Bill”, The Star Online, 13 July 2019.