Employers cannot force their employees to come to the office if there was no need to do so, said secretary-general of the National Association for Human Rights (Hakam), Lim Wei Jiet.

He said employers who did so would be considered to be in violation of the government's Movement Control Order.

"No employer, who is not in the essential services category, can force their employees to work in a situation contrary to what was outlined in the order announced by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin," he said in a ‘Consider This’ interview on Astro AWANI on Tuesday night.

In the event of an employer acting in such a manner, he added, the employees concerned may lodge a police report as this was an offence.

Wei Jiet was responding to a question as to whether employers who are not in the essential services category could compel their employees to work in circumstances deemed to violate the Movement Control Order.