Employment Law

In this topic, I would like to emphasize that why is it so important for an Organization to be doing the RIGHT Thing in the aspect of HR. I have been subject to many different scenario with real life situation, I supposed I am qualified to write some of the basic knowledge that one need to understand.

Firstly, this type of information will not be taught in school so by arming yourself with this knowledge, it will truly add advantages in your career and for organization to prevent any Industrial Relation cases backfired.

Let’s start with the HR matters which is easier to begin. Some of the key important documents that you MUST NOT take lightly:

1.?????Offer Letter – You need this official document to offer you the job which will detail out all the necessary IMPORTANT information such as the Position, Salary and other terms & condition such as notice period, probation period, annual leave and so on.

2.?????Confirmation Letter – You MUST have this letter in order to prove that you are a CONFIRMED staff.

3.?????Company Policy (Handbook) – You need to get this either in soft or hard copy. You will be able to see all the information such as medical & insurance coverage, travelling policy, relocation entitlement and so on.

4.?????Pay Slip and EA Form – This is mandatory for the employer to provide so that you know what is the EPF deduction and Tax deduction. You need the EA Form to file your personal income tax. Even if you leave the company, they are supposed to provide the EA Form and if they don’t, you can write to them cc to the officer from labour office.

Note that DO NOT resign without an official Offer Letter from your future employer because that is very high risk to do so. Verbal Confirmation does not count so without this document, you are subject to notice period during probation period. The company can extend on 3 months basis but MUST provide the detail Development Program to list down which area that you need to achieve in order to get confirmation. After confirmation if there is lack of performance, PIP (Performance Improvement Plan) is the document required to take place.

Second will be the labour law. You need to understand basic labour law in Malaysia and here are some basic and key one that you need to know:

1.?????Malaysia Labour Law (Employment Act 1955) only cover all employees whose earning is not exceeding RM2,000.00 per month. If your salary is RM2,000.00 and below, you can go to the Labour Office to seek assistance if the following occur:

a.?????Employer did not pay your salary on time (Salary MUST BE paid 7 days after the month end)

b.?????Salary, commission, incentive or allowance dispute. This is referring to if you think that the employer did not pay you according to what you are being promised but you MUST have the supporting document. Eg if you are supposed to get RM100 for phone allowance and you did not receive it, you must prove that it is stated in your offer letter for such entitlement.?

c.?????If there is anything that you are not sure, go to the labour office to seek help and it is free for all.

2.?????Based on the most recent development and update, if your salary is above RM2,000.00, you can still approach the labour office as there is no capping for all employee to go to the Labour Office (JTK) to seek for assistance.

Lastly is the Industrial Relation which can be quite complex. Usually one will go to Labour Office first to seek advice and if they think you need help from IR, they will refer you to the IR office. Industrial Relation usually deal with cases that involved mistreatment of employee and most common one is the following:

a.?????Unfair Dismissal

b.?????Constructive Dismissal

You need to go to the IR office immediately as soon as you encounter any discrepancy at your work place for example,

a.?????You have been transferred to another department without any prior notice or discussion

b.?????Your terms have been altered such as the company decided to remove certain benefits that were included in your offer letter

c.?????Your position has been changed either demoted or replaced by someone else

d.?????You are subject to constant abuse in work place be it verbal or physical

You have 60 days time frame from the day that you have been dismissed or you walk out of the employment to file the case. If you pass this time frame then you will not be able to file the case.

The first meeting will be called by the IR officer and during the first meeting, the officer will try to do the mediation for both party to resolve the case. The IR officer is to help to reinstate the employee but usually the company will not want to hence it falls into few options. Usually the employee will want to ask for higher compensation but the company will only offer 1 month.

If there is no agreement then the case will be escalated to the Putra Jaya and at this stage usually it will goes straight to the IR Court. For some strong case, the employee can claim up to maximum of 24 months back wages of their last drawn salary but depend on the date of the award vs the date of the dismissal. If less than 24 months then it will be calculated accordingly.

Of course, all the example given here is just the surface and I can’t cover the entire list but this is to enlighten most people that do not have knowledge or know what action to take against the irresponsible company.

As this topic is quite wide, I am only able to cover the basic and if you need further advice or coaching please reach out to me in the private message.?I would be glad to discuss in detail on how an Organization can apply the right strategy and do the Right thing in this area to retain talent and also boost the business performance.

#HRmatter #Industrialrelation #labourlaw #constructivedismissal #unfairdismissal #abuse