Employers not allowed to lay off until 30 June 2022

The Workers’ Rights (Prescribed Period) Regulations 2020 will be amended so as to extend to 30 June 2022, the prescribed period during which an employer will not reduce the number of his workers either temporarily or permanently or terminate the employment of any of his workers.

The main objective of the amendment, to be brought by the Ministry of Labour, Human Resource Development and Training, is “to continue preserving jobs.”

According to Cabinet papers, it will also ensure that, “in sectors where the economy is picking up, recruitment of new workers is not done to the detriment of the workers already in employment.”