Reference is made to the Reuters article on 11 December 2021 entitled “Malaysia charges Dyson supplier ATA with labour law violations”.
The Board of Directors of ATA IMS wishes to inform that its wholly-owned subsidiary company, ATA Industrial (M) Sdn Bhd (“ATA Ind”) received four (4) summonses from Jabatan Tenaga Kerja (JTK) dated 13 October 2021. These summonses were in accordance with Section 24D (1) and (3) of the Employees’ Minimum Standards of Housing, Accommodation and Amenities Act 1990 (“the Act”) and were issued to ATA Ind following JTK Johor Bahru’s inspection to ATA Ind’s factory and workers’ accommodations in May 2021. The Department issued these summonses as ATA Ind had temporarily accommodated nine workers in four different houses in a residential area which did not have the Certificate of Accommodation (“COA”).
These workers had decided to return to their home countries, but were unable to as their return flights were either delayed or cancelled due to national lockdowns and the closure of international borders, and thus their permits had expired. They were not allowed to be placed at the Company’s hostels, due to restrictions under the relevant COA. These workers had special arrangements with Malaysia’s Immigration Department to temporarily remain in Malaysia while waiting for their departures due to the pandemic and MCO.
With the welfare of these workers in mind, ATA Ind went above and beyond usual practices to provide accommodation for these workers, which unfortunately conflicted with the normal regulations. ATA Ind had taken the necessary steps to facilitate and expedite the return of these workers to their home countries. Cognisant of these unprecedented circumstances and the challenges presented during the pandemic, ATA Ind has written to the offices of the Attorney General of Malaysia appealing for the revocation of these summonses, and is currently awaiting their response and the case is fixed on 11 January 2022 for their reply. These four summonses carry a maximum fine of up to RM200,000 in total.
The Company strongly reiterates that the four summonses that were issued to ATA Ind in October 2021 by Jabatan Tenaga Kerja, Johor Bahru, (“JTK Johor Bahru”), an agency under the Ministry of Human Resources Malaysia (MOHR), are not part of the current allegations of forced labour that Reuters has repetitively made regarding the contract between ATA Ind and Dyson. We made the media announcement as per Reuters queries dated 11 December 2021 on 14 December 2021.
Any additional information will be updated in due course.
This announcement is dated 15 December 2021.