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KMS3084
- Employment Laws
Unit 4 – Employment Contract 3

Unit 4 – Rest and Work Days

• Sick Leave.
• Prolonged Sick Leave and Medical
Certificates.
• Absenteeism.
• Employment of Women, Maternity
Protection and Sexual Harassment.
• Employment of Foreign Employees.
• Industrial and Superior Court Awards.

Sick Leave and Medical Sick Certificates

• The number of paid sick leave entitlement per year is
as follows:-
Length of Service Leave Entitlement (Days)
Less than 2 years 14
At least 2 years but less than 5 years 18
More than 5 years 22

• Is there any statement stated that sick leave only

become entitlement once the employee’s has
completed 12 month’s service?

• In order to be entitled to paid sick leave, an employee

must be certified unfit to work by a registered medical
practitioners or a dentist.
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Sick Leave and Medical Sick Certificates

• If an employee exhausts the above entitlement, any

subsequent sick leave will be unpaid. An employer
may offer a longer period of sick leave, if he wished.

• Where the employee is entitled to paid sick leave, his

wages shall be paid without any deduction for the
days concerned.

• Where the employee has exhausted his paid sick

leave, if a doctor certified him unfit to work, he has a
right to be absent but his pay will be deducted for the
absence.

• How to calculate the unpaid sick leave? 4

Sick Leave and Medical Sick Certificates

• Who appoint company panel doctor’s?

• What happens of the company does not have any

appointed panel doctor’s?
•
• There are two exceptions to the above rule.
(i) If the panel doctor’s services are not available
at the time or place when the employee
falls ill,
(ii) If it is a medical emergency case.

Sick Leave and Medical Sick Certificates

• If the employee is hospitalized, his paid sick leave is 60

days per year, inclusive of the ordinary sick leave as the
case may be.

• An employee is required to inform, or to attempt to

inform his employer, that he is on sick leave, within 48
hours of commencing the sick leave.

• Any employee who fails to inform the employer as per

this requirement is considered absent without
permission and without reasonable excuse.

• If an employee become sick during any period when he

is on annual leave, he shall be granted the sick leave
and his annual leave on such days must be cancelled. 6

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Sick Leave and Medical Sick Certificates

• Employee is not entitled to paid sick leave, or on leave

as result of an accident for which they are receiving
benefits from SOCSO.

• Payment of medical bills – the Act requires the

employer to pay for any medical examination of an
employee by a doctor. However, the Act is silence upon
payment for treatment of the employee.

• Abuse of sick leave may be considered misconduct.

• Excessive sick leave - where an employee takes more

sick leave than is provided for in his contract of
employment, the Industrial Court, depending upon the
circumstances, may consider a dismissal reasonable.

Prolonged Sick Leave and Medical

Certificates

• It would appear that the employee is unable to fulfil

his contractual obligations and so the employer-
employee relationship can no longer continue.

• Some employers may have a specific policy to deal

with such situations.

• There may be a compensation package to provide

for an employee who has been on sick leave for a
specified period, and there is little likelihood of him
returning to normal duties.

Prolonged Sick Leave and Medical

Certificates

• The contract would be brought to an end as the

employee is unable to fulfill his part of the bargain.

• The employee may feel that it is not his fault.

However, there is no legal basis for the employer
to continue to pay an employee who is unable to
work.

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Prolonged Sick Leave and Medical

Certificates

• What options does an employer have with regard

to an employee who is a sickly person? A
distinction has to be made between a person who
has a history of sickness prior to employment, and
a person who encounters an unexpected situation
which requires sick leave to be taken.

• The employer could, in the application for

employment, require the applicant to disclose his
medical history. When an applicant is sent for a
medical check-up, the doctor should also be
advised to make a detailed inquiry about a
person’s past history.
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Prolonged Sick Leave and Medical

Certificates

• If an applicant fails to disclose in full his past

medical problems, this would be a serious breach
on his part.

• In consequence the employer could rely on such

non-disclosure as an important factor in the
decision to terminate the employment or not
confirm the employee.

• It helps to make the employment conditional upon

the result of a medical examination and the
employer being satisfied with what is disclosed.
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Prolonged Sick Leave and Medical

Certificates

• If the employee has utilized his or her 60days

hospitalization leave, and after that continue her
balance of prolonged illness leave. It is suggested
that the company practice 1 year prolonged
illness leave. This is only a suggestion:
i - 3 months (full pay)
ii - 3 months (half pay)
iii- 6 months (unpaid)

• After the duration of 1 year, the company may

decide the terminate the service of the employee
with or without compensation.
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Absenteeism.

• Absenteeism is a common issue faced by almost

all employers. Continues absenteeism can be
damaging to an organization, loss of efficiency &
effectiveness and overload other employee’s
unnecessarily.

• When employees absent themselves from the

workplace, someone else invariably has to take
up the slack when things don’t get done or
completed and someone else becomes
accountable.

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Absenteeism

• In Malaysia the law is very clear in acknowledging

the right of an employer to dismiss an employee
for being absent from work without just cause and
excuse.

• Definition - “An employee shall be deemed to have broken

his contract of service with the employer if he has been
continuously absent from work for more than two
consecutive days without prior leave from his employer,
unless he has reasonable excuse for such absence and has
informed or attempted to inform his employer of such excuse
prior to or at the earliest opportunity during such absence”.

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Absenteeism

• However reported cases show that a breach of contract and

termination are dealt as separate issues.

• As such a breach of contract may not lead to an automatic

termination of employment, the consequence of such a
breach would depend on the conditions of employment.

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