Hooray! Hooray! It’s a Holi-Holiday
28 June 2022
It has been said that Malaysia has one of the most number of public holidays in the world. In addition to the gazetted public holidays, there are also instances when special holidays have been declared, such as on 31 December 2010 when we won the ASEAN Football Federation (AFF) Suzuki Cup and on 24 April 2017 to celebrate the installation of Sultan Muhammad V as the 15th Yang di-Pertuan Agong. While the declaration of these additional public holidays is normally a delightful surprise welcomed by employees, many businesses face challenges in handling the extra holiday, particularly where they are declared with little notice.
In this article, we provide the answers to some of the frequently asked questions on the observance of public holidays under the Holidays Act 1951.
It is to be noted that the Holidays Act 1951 applies only to Peninsular Malaysia and the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan. Public holidays in Sabah and Sarawak are governed by the Holidays Ordinance (Cap. 56) of Sabah and the Public Holidays Ordinance (Cap. 8) of Sarawak respectively.
1. What are the mandatory public holidays?
Employees who fall within the scope of the Employment Act 1955 (typically employees with a monthly salary of RM2,000.00 or less, or who are engaged in or supervise manual labour) (“EA Employees”) are entitled to a minimum of 11 gazetted public holidays per calendar year, five of which must 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;
- Labour Day; and
- Malaysia Day.
The remaining six days of paid public holiday can be chosen by the employer from a list of gazetted public holidays. The employer is required to exhibit conspicuously at the place of employment before the commencement of each calendar year a notice specifying the remaining six gazetted public holidays.
In addition to the 11 gazetted public holidays, EA Employees are also entitled to any public holiday declared by the Minister under Section 8 of the Holidays Act 1951. Where the holiday is declared in respect of any particular State, the Minister is required to consult the State Authority of such State before declaring the holiday.
2. What happens if a public holiday falls on a rest day or on any other public holiday?
Where a public holiday falls on a rest day (typically a Sunday for states other than Kedah, Kelantan, Terengganu and Johor and Saturday for the aforementioned states) or on any other public holiday, the next working day shall be a paid holiday in substitution.
3. Can an employee be required to work on a public holiday – if so, how is he compensated?
Yes. An EA Employee can be required to work on a paid holiday but will have to be paid, in addition to the holiday pay he is entitled to, two days’ wages at his ordinary rate of pay.
For any overtime work carried out by the EA Employee in excess of the normal hours of work on a paid public holiday, the employee shall be paid at a rate which is not less than three times his hourly rate of pay.
4. Are employers required to observe special holiday declared under the Holidays Act 1951?
Employers are required to observe any public holiday (commonly described as ‘cuti istimewa’) declared under Section 8 of the Holidays Act 1951. However, for this holiday, unlike a gazetted public holiday, the employer has the option of choosing any other day as a paid holiday in substitution or provide the employee with an additional day of annual leave, if the employer does not want to observe this public holiday. There is no need to obtain the consent of employees to make the substitution of the public holiday.
5. Are employers also required to observe special holidays declared by the State?
Employers must also observe any State public holidays declared by the State Authority in any such state, or Federal Territory public holidays declared by the Minister in the Federal Territory under Section 9 of the Holidays Act 1951.
In fact, the Prime Minister recently declared 3 December 2021 as a special holiday for the Federal Territories to celebrate Kuala Lumpur FC’s victory in the Malaysia Cup after a barren run of 32 years.
For State and Federal Territory public holidays, employers do not have the option of choosing any other day as a paid holiday in substitution or provide the employee with an additional day of annual leave, if they do not want to observe this public holiday.
6. What about for employees who fall outside the scope of the Employment Act 1955 (i.e. non-EA Employees)?
Employees who fall outside the scope of the Employment Act 1955 (i.e. non-EA Employees) are governed by the terms of their contract of employment. If the contract is silent on public holidays, generally, employers may decide as to whether to observe the public holiday or not. However, in practice most employers choose to grant their non-EA employees the same public holidays as their EA employees for administrative ease.
Swimming against the tide for holidays galore is Bursa Malaysia Berhad, the operator of the Malaysian securities and derivatives exchanges. Bursa Malaysia has recently issued a public consultation paper to seek feedback from the industry on a proposal to introduce trading on certain public holidays. According to a news report, the proposal has received mixed responses, with one stakeholder expressing concern over the significant increase in expenses that may arise in operating on a public holiday.
[1]
Regardless of the outcome of Bursa Malaysia’s proposal, there is no doubt that come 2024, many Malaysians will be rooting for Pandelela Rinong or Lee Zii Jia to win the country’s first-ever gold medal at the Paris Olympics, if not for any reason other than having another holi-holiday!
Article by Foo Siew Li (Partner) of the Employment Practice Group of Skrine.
[1] Holiday trading a possibility,
StarBiz, 24 June 2022.
This alert contains general information only. It does not constitute legal advice nor an expression of legal opinion and should not be relied upon as such. For further information, kindly contact skrine@skrine.com.