Know Your Rights

I'm sure 99% of the employees out there would probably know that there is something call Labor Law. But how many of you know how to use it to defend yourself in a company? Or how many of you out there who knows that the law exists and also knows that your company is wrong but is too chicken shit to use it? I know I'm not. In fact, I just made a call to the Labor Law Office earlier today. (No, I didn't have an argument with my company. This problem has got nothing to do with me.)

Here's what happened:
My colleague sent in her resignation letter two days ago and is now serving her resignation notice of two weeks. Today, the HR Department told her that she can pack her bags and need not report to work anymore tomorrow. Considering this is The Company that is terminating her, I asked if she is getting any compensation from The Company. She told me that the HR Department said that The Company has the right to terminate you and give you an early leave after you send in your resignation should they feel that you have no use for The Company anymore.

(Time to think: Who's right and who's wrong here?)

My colleague, who doesn't want any trouble and just wanted to leave, began to pack up her stuff. Feeling sorry for her, and pissed at the HR Department for thinking that they're God, I decided to make a call to the Labor Law Office to find out what is right and what an employee can do to defend him or herself should this ever happen to any one of us. (*touchwood*)

Calling the Labor Law Office, I talked to a kind lady who, after hearing about my story, told me that The Company CANNOT just terminate you as they wish. According to her, The Company will have to give you a black and white letter, saying that they no longer needed your service and is giving you an early leave…BUT they will still have to PAY YOU for the notice that you are serving, just stated in your employment contract.

In other words: they need to give you money if they want you to go before your time. (For the first time, I feel that the law is on the right side.)

In my opinion, most Malaysian employers practice some sort of invisible communism act on their employees. They always think that they are always right and they can do whatever they want to get you to work things their way. (Even though they know that it is wrong to do so.) A few every good examples of what Malaysian employers always do:

1. They tend to give the employee a RM1500 salary and claim them to be on Executive Level. In this way, the employees will not be eligible to claim overtime (OT) and the employers can now legally work them like a dog.

2. Employers will usually extend the probation period to the maximum level, (usually 4 to 6 months) so that they can NOT increase the employee's salary and save on salary.

3. Employers tend to force their employees to sign legal documents that say things like: "Top management will not be responsible for any of the employees' action," or "By signing this, I agree to be terminated by my employer without further notice."

4. Employers will force their employees to work during absurd hours of the day, like say: 6AM to 6PM on a Sunday and pay them as little as RM36 (for the whole day's work) to carry things up and down lorries and to mend booth at convention center right after completing their hard labor. (I bet even illegal immigrants earn more than that per day!)

The thing with Malaysian employees is: they know that Labor Law exist but they are too afraid to use it. Why? Because if news of them using the Labor Law against their employer spreads out, chances are, they might not be able to get another job for the rest of their life.

Most Malaysian employers are a bunch of brutal creatures that will exploit their employees as much as possible and pay them shit. An employee who fights back and sue a company with will usually lose out, thanks to something call corruption and also something call "the boss is always right" policy, which is practiced in Malaysia (and just about everywhere else in the world). The only difference is: Everywhere else in the world, employees are better treated than those who are stuck in Malaysia. The only way for us to defend ourselves is to know our rights. So, don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and call the Labor Law Office, if you have any doubt in mind.

A Jessism © 18102006

Trip To Cameron

(My apologies for the delay in this posting. Been bogged down with loads of work after I got back from the trip. Throw in an annoying colleague who doesn't know how to keep her mouth shut, an ex who can't stop bad mouthing you to everyone the both of you know, and two part time jobs with tight deadlines, I barely have time to even fart! Anyways, back to this posting...)

23 - 26 September :
Went to Cameron Highlands during the Awal Ramadan weekend, with Verlyn, Samantha and Gerrard. Of course, like most my other trips, I made a pit-stop in PJ and stayed with Amy and Keith, did some catching up (read: bitching), and had our usually Saturday night dinner together. The venue: Esquire Kitchen Bangsar.

Since Verlyn left to meet her friends early Saturday morning and won't be back till night, joining me for dinner (with Amy, Cheryl & Keith) is my ex-colleague, Melvin, who has no idea he is about to walk into something he will soon regret.

Dinner started out normal. Of course when I say normal, I meant The Addams Family kind of "normal". A conversation about my how I broke up with my ex, became a discussion on gay rights, then we talked about Cheryl's job (which till this day no one --not even Amy-- can figure out what exactly is it that she does), and of course, what is dinner without the usual talk about sex? Melvin, who doesn't like to talk about sexual preferences issue in public, is already sending out the can-we-not-discuss-about-this-issue-here vibe when we were talking about gay rights. The poor soul proceeds to receive a big-ass culture shock when Keith started to reenact one of his copulating moments: "OH GOD... I'M COMING...", that sort of thing. This, of course, attracts attention. People from the next table starts to look over to find out what is going on, and I could feel that my poor friend is on the verge of drilling a hole on the floor to hide his head in it.

Met up with Verlyn and Irene at Redbox The Curve that later night for a karaoke session. Melvin introduced us to a friend of his from Taiping, who (I think) looks like a younger version of my Cinema Online trainee, Hon Fei.

Went to Ipoh with Verlyn the next day to meet up with Gerrard and Samantha. Had our dose of nga choi kai (Beans Sprout Chicken) and spent the night at Gerrard's place before we head on to Cameron the next day.

I have never been to Cameron previously, so I was really psyched about the trip. Cameron's colder than I expected it to be. I always thought it would be something like Genting, but I was wrong. It kinda reminded me of the cold Australian weather... with mist.

Went to a local strawberry farm, which claims that they have "SELF-PLUCKING" strawberries. I don't know where the hell they got that phrase from, but it sure got our attention! Strawberries that could pluck themselves!! What a neat idea! Our sarcastic mind were hoping to see those red berries pluck themselves and just jump into our basket and follow us home, but since this is not some fucked-up Disney crap, we have to "pluck" those berries ourselves. Still... it was a great experience.

(A special thanks to our guide, who told me and Verlyn a lot about strawberries and constantly giving us tips on which berries to pick. I never knew that you can differentiate which berry is sweeter and which is sour. They all looked the same to me!)

After having our steamboat dinner that night, the four of us went home to play chor-tai-dee and had strawberries and tequila as our game snack. I don't know if it's the strawberries or the tequila, but Gerrard's face got real red. Of course, the dude claims that he's NOT drunk. (Right...) Then there's Verlyn, who, after one drink, can't even walk in straight lines. Poor girl not only bumped into the closet in her room, she also took my mobile from me when I was on the phone with my boyfriend and started telling him a bunch of things that doesn't really make sense. After she left my room and went into the living room, she proceeds to tell Gerrard that she is about to take off her bras. (Yeah... we are so going to remind her of this embarrassing moment time and time again!)

Having the apartment to ourselves after those drunks slept, Samantha and I did some catching up – the usual talk on life, work, and talked about our ex (read: serious bitching) – until 3am in the morning.

Woke up early the next morning and went photo-taking with Verlyn before we left Cameron. Since Verlyn can't remember anything that happened the night before, (apart from her encounter with the closet), it was great to torture her with images of the embarrassing thing she did. (Read: The Bra Incident!)

[Click Here for pictures from the trip.]

A Jessism © 06102006