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:
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.
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.
Image / Minister Shahidan Kassim’s Facebook
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