Employment Law Part 1

What govern our employment? Is it the Employment Act 1955 (EA) or our written contract that we signed with our employer?

EA is one of the Acts of Parliament that governs the employment law in Malaysia. Amongst others, it stipulates the minimum benefit or requirement of employment in Malaysia.

The EA defines “employees” as those who entered into a contract of service and whose wages does not exceed RM1,500.00 per month or those who are engaged in manual labour, operation or maintenance of mechanically propelled vehicle, supervises the manual workers, work in vessels and domestic servant, regardless of their monthly wages. These are the categories of people that are protected under the EA.

Section 7 and 7A of EA provides that any term in the contract of employment, which is less favourable than the provision in the EA, shall be of no effect and that the provision of the EA shall prevail. On the other hand, if the term of the contract of employment is better off than the provision of the EA, then the terms of the contract shall prevail over the EA. It means that, though those under the abovementioned category is governed by the EA, they are at liberty to enter into a separate contract of employment with their employer and that the employer shall be at liberty to offer them better terms than those provided in the EA.

As for those who are not in those mentioned categories, they are governed by their own contract with their employer.

To be continued...