Kuala Lumpur: Over 50 Indian workers will remain trapped in low paid jobs in Malaysia, as their firm, which was asked by a High Court to pay compensation worth Rs 1 crore, has obtained a stay on the order.

Penang High Court on June 20 had ordered Chin Well Fasteners Co Sdn to pay all the dues and compensation amounting one crore Rupees to the 52 workers from South Indian states.

The High Court judge Kamalanathan Ratnam told the firm to pay all the wages owed, return a levy paid to a Malaysian employment agent, and pay for their airfares and legal costs.

The company, based in Penang, Northern state of Malaysia, obtained an interim stay order on the ruling from the Court of Appeal on the ruling.

Since the company moved the stay application ex-parte (in the absence of one party) as the workers were not represented, the court has granted only an interim stay until a full hearing in presence of both parties is conducted on the stay application, said a lawyer representing the workers.

"We have just received the papers and will file all the documents needed and try to get an early date for the hearing," the lawyer said, adding that they were seeking to speed up the process as the company is holding the workers to the terms and conditions that provoked them into launching legal action.

In a separate application to the Court of Appeal, Chin Well Fasteners challenged the high court verdict, and sought to block the ruling until the outcome of the appeal.

PTI