Reduction of working days and notice period for Malaysia employees
I realized that there are a lot of retrenchments going on lately in our country Malaysia and there are also some who are slightly more “fortunate” to have reduction in working days or better known as pay cut. For the sake of everyone, I will not mention any name or company here.
What I intend to say here is that one of my friends has recently become a victim of this “reduction of working days”. He has been forced to work 2 days out of 5 days, which means 60% of pay cut (worse than someone we all know).
Just like a sane person would do, my friend is actively looking for job but his notice period does not make him attractive in the eyes of the potential employers. Why? He has a 3 months notice period.
So the first few questions which have crossed my mind when he told me he wanted to leave are listed below. I’ve attached the answer together just in case you have the same doubts.
Is labor department in our country going to help?
No. Unfortunately, there’s nothing stated in labor law which protects the employees from something like reduction in working days or forced unpaid leave.
Since the number of working days has been reduced, does that mean notice period has been reduced?
No. It’ll still go as per your first employment letter.
What if I offer to pay back the notice period? Will it be based on my current working days? For example, 2 days per week?
No. If you do offer to buyout the notice period, it’ll be based on 5 working days which is the full amount of your notice period.
Is there any notice period which the company must follow when they announce the reduction in working days?
Based on what my friend told me, there isn’t such protection.
Is there a limit as to how much reduction can the employer do?
Nope. They can ask you to go for 6 months unpaid leave if they want.
As you can see here, the labor law in our country does not really protect the welfare of the employees. The employers can do anything that they want to do and it’s perfectly legal. You might wonder if these employers care about their reputation. Unfortunately, they don’t.
Remember that when people are desperate, they will show their true colors. Employers are no exception.
So good luck people. Let’s hope that none of you will end up like my friend’s situation, or worse than that.
p/s… again, no names should be mentioned here since this post’s objective is to inform people about their rights (if there’s any).
p/s… for those of you who know otherwise, or know if the labor law DOES protect the employees, feel free to comment here. Maybe your information can help my friend. But for now, I think my friend will have to resign first since 3 months is quite a long time. 
If you do offer to buyout the notice period, it’ll be based on 5 working days which is the full amount of your notice period.
I’d question the legality of using the recession as an excuse to shortchange staff. What you described sounds like a form of cheating. Contract variations have to be equitable for it to be legal and employment is essentially that – a contract for working a certain number of days in exchange for an agreed sum. Best to check with the lawyers and not swallow something simply because the HR manager tells you to.
@ Damien
My friend and his colleagues have checked with the Malaysia’s labor department and those are the answers they’ve gathered. Unfortunately, a lot of companies in Malaysia are doing that to cut cost…and to force people off. So retrenching people in this country is not that bad after all since the retrenched employees still get something.
*sigh* our workers union should be strong to argue! and I thought labour department will also overview the salary of workers which should reach certain Par so that the employers doesnt manipulate employees.
(it has been long since i last commented/visit your blog..hehe!)
ladylikes last blog post..Shit I sucked!
@ ladylike
workers’ union, some of them, do more harm than good to the company and also the employees. =_= The people who should protect the employees should be the labour department. I think what they should be doing is not to check the salary, but to make sure the companies will not resort to cruel/ruthless tactics to get rid of the people who have worked so hard for them.
Haha, yea, I know it’s been a while.
Let me bookmark your blog first 