With effective 1 Jan 2023, all employees in West Malaysia & WP Labuan with monthly wages up to RM4K (opposed to RM2K previously) are entitled to overtime payment.
This particular amendment has sent a lot of employers spinning for it means there will be a rise in labour cost for the group of employees between RM2K to RM4K and was also one of the reasons why the implementation of the Amendment Act was deferred from 1 Sep 2022 to 1 Jan 2023. I’ve seen companies moving backwards even to implement a clock-in-clock-out system (as opposed to none previously) to monitor their employees attendance.
When it comes to overtime claims, the principle remains the same. All overtime claims need to be approved by the employer prior performing overtime and is subjected to the company’s overtime policy. Employers do have the right to reject overtime claims if they don’t find the overtime claims genuine. Like, staying back in the office to wait for the traffic to subside. Or cannot finish work because was watching YouTube/taking smoke breaks/busy scrolling WhatsApp messages and social media during working hours.
When it comes to whether an employer can compel an employee to perform overtime, actually can. These are some reasons an employer can justify to compel employees to perform overtime:
- There is an accident, actual or threatened with respect to the workplace
- There is work exigencies to be met
- There is a shortage of manpower
- There is unforeseen interruption of work
But can an employee refuse to perform overtime? Actually also can. But it needs to come with a good reason like how one applies for emergency leave eg. there is a threat to the employee’s property or there is a matter of life and death to be dealt by the employee. If the employee intentional refuses an order that is lawful and reasonable, then disciplinary action can be taken for insubordination.
Bottom line is, either employer or employee should not abuse the overtime system. Achieving harmony in the workplace is so important.
And it starts with we all jangan lebih-lebih, whether we are the employer or the employee.
#POV #EA1955 #BebelBimbo
