“No MC During Peak Season” Is Illegal. Here Are 10 Other Things M’sian Bosses Say That Break The Law

The law: Section 60F of the Employment Act 1955 entitles employees to paid sick leave if they have a medical certificate from a registered medical practitioner or dental surgeon. The entitlement is: 14 days/year (under 2 years’ service), 18 days/year (2–5 years), 22 days/year (over 5 years), and up to 60 days if hospitalisation is required.

An employer cannot refuse sick leave when an MC has been issued by a registered doctor. They also cannot discipline an employee for taking legitimate sick leave. The phrase “MC blackout period during peak season” has no legal standing under the Employment Act.

The law: The Employment Act makes no distinction between probationers and confirmed employees for most purposes. A probationer can resign by giving the correct notice period as stated in their contract. If no notice period is specified for probation, the default under Section 12 of the Employment Act applies (typically agreed between parties; commonly 7–14 days during probation). No employer can legally prevent a probationer from resigning — and they cannot impose punitive deductions beyond the notice period agreed in contract.

Similarly, while employers can extend a probation period, they cannot keep someone in perpetual probation as a way to deny them employment rights. Probationers are also protected from unfair dismissal — courts have consistently upheld this.

The law: Section 24 of the Employment Act strictly controls what employers can deduct from wages. Legal deductions include statutory contributions (EPF, SOCSO, EIS, PCB), court-ordered deductions, and deductions the employee has consented to in writing (such as loan repayments). Even consented deductions are capped at 50% of monthly wages.

What is explicitly illegal: deducting wages for mistakes, damages, shortfalls in cash handling, breakages, or performance issues — without going through a proper domestic inquiry (DI) process with a formal finding of misconduct and a proportionate punishment. An employer cannot simply take money out of your pay because something went wrong.

The law: Section 60A of the Employment Act requires overtime pay at a minimum of 1.5× the hourly rate for work beyond 8 hours per day on a normal workday, 2× on rest days, and 3× on public holidays — for employees earning RM4,000/month or below, and manual workers regardless of salary. The monthly OT cap is 104 hours.

For employees above RM4,000, OT entitlement depends on the employment contract. If your contract is silent on OT, you should negotiate explicitly before signing. No employer can verbally tell you OT is “part of the job” and then refuse to pay legally mandated overtime to qualifying employees.

The law: Section 41A of the Employment Act (effective January 2023) explicitly prohibits the termination of a pregnant employee or an employee suffering from an illness arising from pregnancy — except in three very narrow circumstances: wilful breach of contract, misconduct, or business closure. Crucially, if an employer terminates a pregnant employee, the burden of proof lies with the employer to show it was not pregnancy-related.

This protection applies to all female employees regardless of salary. The same amendment also extended paid maternity leave from 60 days to 98 consecutive days. An employer who denies the full 98 days or fires a pregnant employee faces criminal prosecution under the Employment Act.

The law: Section 60E of the Employment Act establishes annual leave as a statutory entitlement: 8 days for under 2 years, 12 days for 2–5 years, and 16 days for over 5 years of service. These are minimum entitlements that no employment contract can reduce. Any contract term providing fewer annual leave days than the statutory minimum is void by law.

While employers have discretion over when leave is taken (they can ask you to postpone based on business needs), they cannot deny annual leave outright or describe it as a “privilege.” Probationers are entitled to annual leave on a pro-rated basis from their first day.

The law: The Employment Act 1955 does not prohibit employees from discussing their salaries with each other. While employment contracts may include confidentiality clauses, these typically refer to company business information — not personal compensation. A clause that purports to prevent employees from discussing their own salaries is generally unenforceable in Malaysia, particularly as salary information relates to the employee’s own data under the Personal Data Protection Act.

The Anti-Discrimination provisions in the 2023 amendments also give employees the right to challenge discriminatory pay — something that becomes impossible if salary information is completely suppressed. Employers who discipline employees for discussing their own salaries risk unfair dismissal claims.

The law: Section 60D of the Employment Act mandates that employees receive their full ordinary rate of pay for gazetted public holidays even if they don’t work. The 11 compulsory gazetted public holidays must be fully paid regardless of whether you come in. If you work on a public holiday, you receive additional pay (2× ordinary rate for normal hours, 3× for overtime hours).

The law is clear: public holidays are paid days off. An employer who deducts pay for public holidays is in direct violation of the Act and can be reported to JTK.

The law: Section 60A of the Employment Act caps normal working hours at 8 hours per day and 45 hours per week (reduced from 48 hours by the 2023 amendment). Crucially, the total daily hours including overtime cannot exceed 12 hours in a single day. Monthly overtime cannot exceed 104 hours.

The maximum of 12 hours in a day is not a target — it is an absolute ceiling. Any hours above 8 within a day must be paid as overtime. Any instruction to regularly work 12-hour days without OT pay is a double violation: both the hours limit and the OT payment obligation are being breached.

If 12-hour days are being required routinely (not exceptionally), this may also constitute a workplace safety and health violation under the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994.

The law: Section 19 of the Employment Act requires employers to pay wages not later than the 7th day after the end of each wage period (typically a month). Delayed salary payment is not a matter of “company circumstance” — it is a legal violation. Employers who consistently delay salary payment are committing an offence under the Act.

In severe cases — where an employer deliberately withholds or deducts wages without legal basis — this can constitute wage theft, which is a criminal matter. If your employer is consistently paying late, document the delays and report to JTK. You do not have to wait until you leave the company to file a complaint.

💡 Bonus — what bosses say about complaints that’s also wrong

“If you make a sexual harassment complaint, we’ll have to investigate both of you” — under the 2023 Employment Act amendments, employers are now required to display sexual harassment awareness notices and investigate complaints properly. They cannot refuse to investigate, dismiss complaints as “frivolous,” or threaten the complainant. Workplace bullying was also formally recognised as a criminal offense in Malaysia effective July 2025 under amendments to the Penal Code.