The fact that he wants to return home as soon as possible may prompt Nepali worker Mangal Bahadur Gurung to accept a compromise quantum proposed by the labour department as payment of wages owed by his ex-employer.

The Subang Jaya labour office has given Mangal and his former employer, Noorul Hassan Sahul, up to 10am tomorrow to reach agreement on the amount suggested during the hearing this morning.

Chairperson Ummar @ Jai Kumar Abdullah suggested that Noorul Hasan should pay Mangal RM13,000 as full settlement of claims, although he had only offered to pay RM3,500.

Mangal had initially made a claim of RM6,400 wages due from the owner of Restaurant Raya Arif in Subang Jaya, where he had worked for about a year from 2003.

However, he subsequently adjusted the sum to RM17,000, to include overtime, allowances and other claims, after consultation with the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) and Tenaganita.

Tenaganita had helped highlight the Nepali's plight - when the Petaling Jaya magistrate's court sentenced him to 10 months' jail and a stroke of the rotan for 'illegal entry' - while MTUC offered to represent him in arbitrating his wage claims case.

Mangal's representative at the hearing, MTUC vice-president Mohd Khalid Atan, told malaysiakini that the employer had expressed some reluctance to pay this sum.

"However, if he does agree to pay that amount, he will have the money ready when he comes for the hearing tomorrow," said Mohd Khalid.

Shorter route

Mohd Khalid said that he had told Mangal about the proposed quantum through a translator from the Nepal Embassy.

He said Mangal showed interest in accepting the amount, but that he has a little more time to consider the offer.

Mohd Khalid also said he had explained to Mangal - who has expressed his desire to return home as quickly as possible - that it would be time-consuming to take the case through the judicial process.

Mangal arrived in Malaysia to work in the restaurant in late 2003. He claimed that he was not paid his wages and that he was threatened with violence whenever he asked for the money.

His ex-employer held his passport, as a result of which he could not prove his case when arrested by the immigration department during a nationwide crackdown on undocumented foreign workers.

Mangal's conviction was set aside by High Court Judicial Commissioner Zaharah Ibrahim since he had a valid work permit and passport. By then, he had spent 51 days in jail and had been whipped.

He has not been employed since he left the restaurant late last year and has been taken care of financially by a Malaysian who befriended him.