[2] The company was founded in Malaysia in 1991 by Tan Sri Dr Lim Wee Chai, with one production line and staff comprising 100 people.

[19] Top Glove claimed that it would offer a total of 9,000 job opportunities for locals throughout 2021, to help address the rising unemployment rate in Malaysia.

This initiative was facilitated by the Tan Sri Muhyiddin Charity Golf (TSMCG) Foundation which helped to disseminate these supplies to the hospitals and health departments identified by the MOH for the use of frontline professionals.

[24] An investigation by Channel 4 News in June 2020 found that staff were living in cramped conditions, paid £1.08 an hour, forced to work overtime to meet the demand for gloves during the COVID-19 pandemic, and could not adequately practice social distancing despite the company claiming appropriate measures were taken.

This includes repayment of recruitment fees totaling USD $36 million to current and eligible former workers via monthly payments which were concluded in April 2021.

[29] On 15 July 2020, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) placed a Withhold Release Order (WRO) on imports of products made by subsidiaries of Top Glove for labour issues over debt bondage of its foreign workers and poor housing.

[36] In mid-November 2020, several COVID-19 cases were detected in one of the Top Glove dormitories in Klang which has led to an enhanced movement control order being implemented in the surrounding area.

[40][41] According to a Malay Mail report published on 13 December 2020, several South Asian migrant workers had told the Agence France-Press about "appalling" living conditions including cramped dormitories housing 25 people.

In response to criticism and publicity, Top Glove announced plans to purchase more workers' accommodation and to build "mega-hostels" equipped with modern amenities that can house 7,300 people.

[16] The same day, it was reported that Top Glove had fired a whistleblowing Nepalese migrant worker named Yubaraj Khadka for sharing photos of overcrowded working conditions, which were later picked up by Reuters.