Some 20 lorry drivers gathered at the Employees’ Provident Fund's (EPF) headquarters in Kuala Lumpur to submit a memorandum regarding their claim that they had been cheated out of their rightful wages by their employers.

They claimed that their employers had manipulated the use of certain terms that kept certain allowances from not being deducted from their EPF contributions.

There were also complaints about not receiving rightful commissions, allowances, and overtime pay.

“Some companies base their commissions (towards the drivers) on the price of what has been transported or the products being transported.

“According to the EPF Act, commission is a wage and EPF contributions must be deducted accordingly,” read the memorandum from the lorry drivers’ committee.

The committee claimed to have brought up this issue with the Ipoh branch of EPF last year, but no further action was taken.

“We will investigate the matter from HQ, we’ll see the employers and check their records.

“If there is an issue of liability, we’ll take the necessary actions for the employers to pay,” said EPF enforcement department head Hardial Singh.

Rani Rasiah, central working coordinator of The Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM), who presented the case on behalf of the lorry drivers to EPF, stated that they are currently working with lorry drivers from three different companies, representing about 150 workers.

“We have been working on this case for about 1 year, I’ve been working with this company for 3 years.

“We don’t get basic pay (in this company), but we get paid by commissions,” said lorry driver Thiyaga Rajan.

EPF is working with PSM to get proper documentation and proof within this week to begin investigations.