Business Group Pushes Back Against 16-Day Annual Leave Proposal
How many days of annual leave do you get?
The Small and Medium Enterprises Association of Malaysia (Samenta) has criticised a proposal to standardise paid annual leave at 16 days for all workers, warning that such a move could hurt both employees and employers
Samenta president Datuk William Ng said the suggestion fails to account for current practices, where many companies already offer between 18 and 21 days of leave to employees with over five years of service.
Ng believes that employers want to reward loyalty, and employees value these incremental benefits, as reported by FMT.
He added that a forced increase of annual leave would result in higher operational costs and slash profit margins. This could be detrimental to retail companies that already struggle to break even, especially when it comes to hiring workers during festive seasons.
Under the Employment Act, annual leave is currently tiered: eight days for employees with one to two years of service, 12 days for two to five years, and 16 days for those with more than five years.
Pasir Puteh MP Nik Zawawi Salleh put forth the proposal to standardise annual leave to 16 days last week
The MP said that the amount of annual leave would motivate staff to be more efficient in their work.
The proposed amendment to the Employment Act would provide 16 days paid annual leave to all workers, regardless of how long they have been employed.
Meanwhile, Malaysian Employers Federation president Syed Hussain Syed Husman noted that variations in leave entitlements are typically minor
He added that all employees generally start with the same base amount, and leave entitlements increase over time based on performance.
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