KUALA LUMPUR, July 3 — FGV Holdings Bhd has announced a reimbursement drive for its migrant workers, offering to repay any fees they paid to third parties to secure employment with the Malaysian firm.
In an announcement on its Facebook page, it said the programme would cover a category of former employees from Indonesia, India and Bangladesh who were recruited between September 2018 and December 2022.
A second category would include ex-workers from the same three countries who joined from January 2023 and left before 2024.
“FGV is committed to responsible recruitment and the Employer Pays Principle. Through an independent review, FGV has found that migrant workers may have paid recruitment fees and related costs to secure a job with FGV.
“In order to adhere to the Employer Pays Principle, FGV has decided to offer reimbursements of recruitment fees to former workers who were recruited on or after September 1, 2018,” it said in the announcement.
In September 2020, the United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) imposed a Withhold Release Order (WRO) on FGV, which effectively restricted its palm oil and derivative products from being imported.
The WRO was issued over allegations of forced labour practices at the firm.
Earlier this year, FGV reimbursed RM72.2 million in recruitment fees to its 19,673 migrant workers, for the same effort to have the WRO modified.
