Authorities have charged two employers for failing to purchase work injury compensation insurance for 25 of their employees, according to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).
Extrovert Engineering and Suriakumar Ridgeway, the sole proprietor of Ridgeway Marine and Construction, face a total of 25 counts under the Work Injury Compensation Act.
The law requires employers to secure work injury compensation insurance for all employees doing manual work, as well as all employees earning less than $1,600 a month. It is applicable to both foreign and local workers.
According to MOM, Bangladeshi worker Sujan Ahmed Late Ali Ahmed hired by ridgeway injured his right elbow and back after falling from a ladder at work. Investigators found that Ridgeway did not secure work injury insurance for the Bangladeshi and 10 other workers. They also found that Ridgeway failed to pay compensation to the Bangladeshi worth $9,144.97 as ordered by the Assistant Commissioner of Work Injury Compensation.
In the case of Extrovert Engineering, Bangladeshi worker Ali Syed Rubel dislocated his left shoulder after falling from a ladder at work on 22 March last year. It was later found that the firm did not purchase work injury insurance for 14 of its 22 workers. The firm was made to pay $5,973.14 in compensation to the Bangladeshi.
"MOM will not hesitate to deal severely with employers who do not purchase work injury compensation insurance and wilfully abscond from their responsibility to pay work injury compensation," Kee Ee Wah, director of MOM's Work Injury Compensation Department as quoted by the
Straits Times.
According to MOM, failure to provide adequate insurance is an offence carrying a fine of up to $10,000 or jail of up to 12 months, or both.
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