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Under Section 60D (1)(b) of Malaysia's Employment Act 1955, an additional public holiday is not considered a paid public holiday as employees are only entitled to 10 gazetted public holidays.
With 3 December 2021 (Friday) earlier declared as a public holiday for Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, and Labuan, Minister for Human Resources M. Saravanan has encouraged employers to provide general paid leave to their employees in these three Federal Territories.
The matter has brought about some discussion because the additional public holiday is not considered as a paid public holiday. Under Section 60D (1)(b) of Malaysia's Employment Act 1955, employees are only entitled to 10 gazetted public holidays which include National Day, Birthday of Yang di-Pertuan Agong, and more.
Minister Dr Shahidan Kassim, however, who declared the holiday, did so within his means as a Minister in this matter. In other words, he declared a public holiday where he deemed fit, an action that is allowed under Section 9 (2) of Malaysia's Holiday Act 1951 for the Federal Territory, which states:
9. (2) The Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, or in such other manner as he thinks fit, appoint a day to be observed as a Federal Territory public holiday in the Federal Territory, and such day shall, except as hereinafter provided, be observed in the Federal Territory as a public holiday.
For the benefit of our readers, Section 60D of the Employment Act notes:
- Every employee shall be entitled to a paid holiday at his ordinary rate of pay on ten gazetted public holidays in any one calendar year, four of which shall be--
- the National Day;
- the Birthday of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong;
- the Birthday of the Ruler or the Yang di-Pertua Negeri, as the case may be, of the State in which the employee wholly or mainly works under his contract of service, or the Federal Territory Day, if the employee wholly or mainly works in the Federal Territory; and
- the Workers' Day.
Provided that if any of the said ten gazetted public holidays falls on a rest day the working day following immediately thereafter shall be a paid holiday in substitution therefor.
- (1A) The employer shall exhibit conspicuously at the place of employment before the commencement of each calendar year a notice specifying the remaining six gazetted public holidays in respect of which his employees shall be entitled to paid holidays:
Provided that by agreement between the employer and an employee any other day or days may be substituted for one or more of the said remaining six gazetted public holidays.
- (1B) Where any of the said ten gazetted public holidays or any other day substituted therefor as provided in subsection (1) or (1A) falls within the period during which an employee is on sick leave or annual leave to which the employee is entitled under this Act, or falls during the period of temporary disablement under the Workmen's Compensation Act 1952, or under the Employees Social Security Act 1969, the employer shall grant another day as a paid holiday in substitution for such public holiday or the day substituted therefor.
Image / Minister Shahidan Kassim's Facebook
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