KUCHING: There have been no reported cases of workers and staff at shopping malls in the city refusing to get vaccinated against Covid-19.
Shopping mall operators have reportedly played their roles to encourage all their staff and workers to be inoculated.
According to Vivacity Megamall human resource director, Geraldine Lau, all of the mall’s staff members have been fully vaccinated.
“Our management has always been assertive in having all our employees vaccinated. That was why we applied to be one of the vaccination centres (PPV) last June,” she told New Sarawak Tribune recently.
She also mentioned that the mall’s management did not have issues with its pregnant employees as their doctors have advised them to be vaccinated.
“So far, we do not have any issues with staff not vaccinated due to health problems. As for new recruitments, one of the conditions is that they must first be fully vaccinated,” she said.
She explained that the mall’s management concurred with the advice by Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) for private sector employees to be vaccinated, and those who failed to do so without valid reason would face disciplinary action including termination.
“Yes, we agree to such mandatory requirement, but we do not need to sack anyone as we already require full vaccination for new recruits.
“At the same time, we support everyone to be fully vaccinated to help keep everyone safe during the pandemic,” she said.
Meanwhile, PE Land Group of Companies group human resources manager Kon Siew Joon said that the management of the Spring Shopping Mall had always encouraged its employees to be vaccinated. This included foreign workers of its associate companies.
“Once they are vaccinated, employees are required to provide the HR department a copy of their digital certificate and it will be laminated on their staff ID badge.
“So, we are proud to have 100 percent fully vaccinated workforce,” she said, adding that the mall’s management was continuing to give reminder and awareness to their employees on safe workplace practices.
Kho said it was only fair for employers to enforce the mandatory requirement for employees to be vaccinated unless they have with valid reason.
“We already know that vaccination reduces the risk of infection for fully vaccinated people. This is the only way to prevent cross infection in the workplace and to protect the employees from ending up in a critical medical condition.
“Employees need to understand that the measure is to protect them and protect everyone in the workplace,” she said.
Sharing the same sentiment was Cityone Megamall which strongly agree to mandatory requirement for employees to be vaccinated in an effort to curb Covid-19.
“We take this matter seriously. And our management has arranged a vaccination programme for all of our employees and tenants,” its spokesperson said.
He said if an employee fails to comply with the instruction, then the management will have no choice but to terminate the particular employee.
