Leonardo Olefins Hamonangan (Petitioner) at a material judicial review hearing of the Manpower Law, Monday (3/18/2024). Photo by MKRI/Panji.

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JAKARTA (MKRI) — The Petitioner of case No. 35/PUU-XXII/2024 on the material judicial review of Article 35 paragraph (1) of Law No. 13 of 2003 on Manpower, Bekasi resident Leonardo Olefins Hamonangan, wishes that age limit be abolished from job vacancy announcements. He believes the norm has allowed employers to set discriminatory recruitment requirements that prevent him and other applicants from getting a job.

“In situations where employers can recruit workers without going through a fair or transparent selection process, employers can easily take advantage of the situation to exploit workers by imposing unsuitable working conditions or providing low wages. This can create greater inequality in employment relations,” the Petitioner said before Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra and Constitutional Justices Arsul Sani and Anwar Usman.

At the petition revision hearing on Monday, March 18, 2024, the Petitioner said that Article 35 paragraph (1) of the Manpower Law has resulted in limited access and opportunities for workers to get jobs that fit their skills and expertise. It has also created legal uncertainty because its vagueness and lack of guidelines can lead to different interpretations in practice and legal conflicts between employers and workers or employers and regulators.

Following the advice of the panel of justice at the previous hearing, the Petitioner also added a comparison of policies prohibiting discrimination in job vacancy requirements in other countries, such as the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands. He said Germany has detailed and clear regulations related to maximum age limits, job requirements, work experience, and others.

“The maximum age limits in vacancies in Germany must be objective, clear, and reasonable. If it is unreasonable, any citizen can file a civil lawsuit. It is unfortunate that Indonesia does not have a special or specific policy giving freedom to its citizens if they experience discrimination over job vacancy requirements,” he argued.

In the petitum, the Petitioner ask that the Court declare Article 35 paragraph (1) of the Manpower Law conditionally unconstitutional and not legally binding if not interpreted as “Employers who need workforce may recruit by themselves the workforce they need or have them recruited through job placement agencies and shall be prohibited from committing any form of discrimination as referred to in Article 5” or “Employers who need workforce may recruit by themselves the workforce they need or have them recruited through job placement agencies and shall be prohibited from creating clauses on the requirements as follows: a. age, b. religion, c. ethnicity, d. tribe, e. race, f. gender, and g. education unless there is a reasonable assessment that is objectively acceptable and justified by laws and regulations” or “Employers who need workforce may recruit by themselves the workforce they need or have them recruited through job placement agencies and shall be prohibited from committing any act, giving any statement or any other kind that gives demeaning impression and can hinder workers from participating in job application selection.”

Before adjourning the hearing, Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra said that the petition would be forwarded to the justice deliberation meeting (RPH) to decide whether it will be ruled with or without plenary hearings. He also reminded the Petitioner that beginning this weekend, the Court will focus on settling general election results disputes (PHPU), so he asked that the Petitioner exercise patience while waiting.

“Who knows if within one or two days we have time to discuss it, then you might be notified earlier,” he said.

Also read: Bekasi Resident Challenges Manpower Law Due to Discriminatory Recruitment Requirements

At the preliminary hearing on Tuesday, March 5, the Petitioners argued that the enactment of the norm can lead to more unemployment in Indonesia. He revealed that based on data by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), open unemployment rate (TPT) is at 5.32% and the average labor wage is 3.18 million rupiahs per month.

In addition, the Government still allows discriminatory job vacancy requirements and has not implemented the 1958 ILO Convention (Number 111) regarding discrimination in employment and positions. In general, the article in the ILO Convention gives the state the responsibility to ensure that there is no discrimination in the recruitment process until the employment relation is built.

However, the Government often announces job vacancies whose requirements include an age limit. The Petitioner revealed that on its Instagram account @kemnaker, the Ministry of Manpower displayed job vacancies from a number of companies that included a maximum age limit.

Author       : Mimi Kartika
Editor        : Lulu Anjarsari P.
PR            : Fauzan Febriyan
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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