The long-awaited amendments to the Employment Act 1955 (Act) were recently tabled in Parliament on 25 October 2021. The Ministry of Human Resources had plans to table these amendments as far back as 2018.1 The intention of the Employment (Amendment) Bill 2021 (Bill) is to comply with the international standards and practices as required by the TransPacific Partnership Agreement, the Malaysia-United States Labour Consistency Plan and the International Labour Organization (ILO).
A summary of the key amendments proposed is seen below:
Flexible working arrangements
The Bill proposes to introduce a new section on flexible working arrangements. This covers the process and a timeline for application by the employee and approval/refusal by the employer. This welcome addition is most timely in light of the advent of remote working arrangements during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bill does not place an obligation on employers to approve flexible working arrangements, but merely requires an employer to consider all applications and respond with the ground(s) of refusal.
Reduction of normal working hours
The Bill proposes to reduce normal working hours from 48 hours to 45 hours per week. While this is within the standard set by the ILO (which is 48 hours),2 it is still below the ILO 1935 Convention, which has not been ratified by Malaysia, where each member state which ratified this Convention declared its approval of the principle of a 40hour week applied in such a manner that the...
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