Malaysia urged to delay implementing reduced working hours

The Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) has urged the government to postpone the reduction in weekly working hours.
By: | August 16, 2022
Topics: Asia-Pacific | Compliance | Employment Law | Malaysia | News | Restructuring

MEF President Datuk Dr Syed Hussain Syed Husman said the deferment of the amended Employment Act 1955 would give employers enough time to adjust their operational hours to meet the new requirements of the 45-hour work week.

He noted that although the implementation of the reduced working hours had been announced, the human resources minister’s order on the implementation date and the First Schedule of the Employment Act had yet to be gazetted. 

Without the implementation order, provisions of the amendment could not be implemented, Datuk Syed said.

He added that employers who run their businesses continuously normally run them on a two- or three-shift cycle, and this was possible as the maximum hours of work allowable in a week was 48 hours.

READ: Malaysia to introduce shorter working hours

With the reduction of working hours per week to 45 hours, he said, it was no longer possible for such employers to run their businesses continuously without incurring at least three hours of overtime payments per employee. 

He said if employers were not willing to incur the overtime payments or do not have the financial capacity to absorb the overtime costs, they need to reduce the working hours per week to 45 hours, according to New Straits Times.