Seven Burmese workers were deported amid a Labour Department's investigation into their complaints of ill-treatment by a Penang-based garment factory, claimed a human rights organisation today.

Aliran said the company terminated the workers's work permit on Tuesday and they were transported to Kuala Lumpur for deportation to Burma the next day.

"It is appalling that the employers were able to cancel the workers' work permits and get them deported even though the Labour Department was in the middle of investigations into the company's treatment of its migrant workers," lamented Aliran in a statement.

Two days before the sudden deportation, the workers lodged an official complaint with the Labour Department in Butterworth that their company, Ban Guan Manufacturing, had failed to pay proper wages.

The workers were told by a Labour Department official that it will investigate the matter and would issue a show-cause letter to the company this week.

Fraudulent claims

The workers were originally told by labour recruitment agents that their wages including overtime would be not less than RM700.

However, when they arrived in Malaysia, they were shocked to find that their take-home pay in some cases fell below RM100 per month.

"Other have received take-home wages in the region of RM100 and RM200," said Aliran.

This was because a number of deductions were made from the workers' salaries - 50 percent to repay loans taken to finance their trip to Malaysia and pay off agents' fees, another 10 percent supposedly for Burma's income tax, and other deductions included Malaysia's foreign workers' levies.

"If the workers made mistakes in sewing the garments, they were often made to pay for the defective garment, thus reducing their wages even further," added the human rights NGO.

The company - which hired 25 Burmese workers - argued that the low wages was because the workers were not the skilled labourers it had wanted.

But Aliran said that the fault lied with the employment agents who had enticed the workers to work in Malaysia on fraudulent claims.

"To deport them to Burma - while a Labour Department investigation into the company's treatment of migrant workers is ongoing - shows that employers here have too much power to do what they like with migrant workers without having to account for their actions," said Aliran.

Exploited by employers

Migrant workers have often complained of ill-treatment by employers and law enforcement agencies.

There have been reports that employers hired illegal workers and later informed the authorities to deport them so the labourers need not be paid for the work done.

Malaysia has relied heavily on migrant labour in the past decade, especially in the manufacturing, plantation and construction sectors.

Aliran wants the government to investigate the matter and ensure that the seven deported workers be fully compensated.

"Something is wrong with our Malaysian laws when they fail to protect migrant workers and safeguard them from exploitative working and living conditions."