KUALA LUMPUR (REUTERS) - Malaysian glove manufacturer Supermax Corp has introduced a new foreign worker management policy and enhanced its current human resources policies in light of allegations of forced labour, it said on Monday (Jan 3).

The new and strengthened policies follow a ban by the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in October on imports from the company over alleged labour abuses. It is among five Malaysian glove makers to have faced the ban in the last two years.

Supermax said in a statement it is currently in the process of updating the CBP about improvements made under the new policies.

"The effectiveness and implementation of these policies will be inspected by different levels of on-going audits with at least two auditing processes, and two additional US-based auditors, which will conduct analysis and monitoring against the ILO 11 Forced Labour Indicators," it said, referring to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) standards.

Supermax has also begun reimbursing recruitment fees to former workers since September and expects to complete this process by March.

The company said improvements to working and living conditions are in progress with refurbishment and renovation expected to be completed by mid-February.

It has also adopted an equal pay and benefit structure for foreign workers, to match that of local workers. This will further eliminate any discriminatory practice, it said.

Supermax said it has proactively raised its minimum wage to RM1,400 (S$453) per month, higher than the current national minimum wage of RM1,200.