Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra chairing a material judicial review the Stipulation of the Job Creation Perppu into Law, Tuesday (11/7/2023). Photo by MKRI/Ifa.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Constitutional Court (MK) held another formal judicial review hearing of Law No. 6 of 2023 on the Stipulation of Government Regulation in Lieu of Law No. 2 of 2022 on Job Creation into Law on Tuesday, November 7, 2023. The hearing for cases No. 40/PUU-XXI/2023 and No. 61/PUU-XXI/2023 was presided over by Chief Justice Anwar Usman and six other constitutional justices.

The hearing had been scheduled to hear the House of Representatives (DPR) and the Government, but they were indisposed. The Government had sent a letter to the Court’s Registrar’s Office, signed by the Coordinating Minister for Economy, stating that they would not be able to testify.

“The Government sent a request for the delay of the hearing because they are still preparing [for their testimony]. We informed the Government and the president’s proxy to prepare it immediately for the next hearing. There will no more excuse. We have to respect the Petitioners’ interest. Please make not of that. The hearing is postponed until Wednesday, November 22, 2023 at 11:00 WIB to hear the House and the Government,” said Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra.

Also read:

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Court Rules to Separate Formal and Material Review of Job Creation Law

The case No. 40/PUU-XXI/2023 was filed by 121 petitioners, consisting of ten workers’ unions and 111 individuals. Among the unions are Federasi Serikat Pekerja Kimia, Energi, dan Pertambangan Serikat Pekerja Seluruh Indonesia (FSP KEP SPSI); Persatuan Pegawai Indonesia Power (PP IP); and Federasi Serikat Pekerja Indonesia (FSPI). They allege that the Job Creation Law is legally flawed. They question the House’s approval of the stipulation of Government Regulation in Lieu of Law (Perppu) No. 2 of 2022 on Job Creation into law. They assert that this means the House approved the president’s justification of the compelling crisis situation for the stipulation of the perppu. In addition, the enforcement of Article 81 of the Job Creation Law has led to actual or at least potential losses in the part of the Petitioners and could lead to the loss of job. It essentially facilitates layoffs and changes in manpower as regulated in the articles of the Law has degraded state protections for workers, which was previously regulated appropriately in Law No. 31 of 2003 on Manpower.

Meanwhile, the Petitioner of case No. 61/PUU-XXI/2023, private employee Leonardo Siahaan, argues that as a person in productive age, despite not having been employed, he would potentially work. He realized that Article 56 paragraph (3) of the Job Creation Law means that the extension of temporary employment agreements (PKWT) clearly has no fixed term and number of extension time, thus highly susceptible to exploitation of workers. Seeing the a quo article, employers could think they can extend PKWT contracts for more than 10 years and even more than 2 times when, in fact, the old Manpower Law clearly stipulates that the maximum term for a PKWT is 3 years and it can be extended only once. This means the employment term of the elderly could have been extended continuously until they become a permanent employee.

Compared to previous norms that he compared to, the Petitioner asserts, the a quo article has not regulated temporary employment (PKWTT). Therefore, he requests that the Court declare Article 56 paragraph (3) of the Job Creation Law unconstitutional and not legally binding insofar as not interpreted as “A temporary employment agreement based on a certain period can be set for a maximum of 2 (two) years and can only be extended 1 (one) time for a maximum of 1 (one) year or 1 (one) tie.”

Author       : Utami Argawati
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : Tiara Agustina
Translator  : Yuniar Widiastuti (NL)

Disclaimer: The original version of the news is in Indonesian. In case of any differences between the English and the Indonesian versions, the Indonesian version will prevail.

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