PUBLIC HOLIDAY ANNOUNCEMENT ON EID AL-ADHA 2017

PUBLIC HOLIDAY ANNOUNCEMENT ON EID AL-ADHA 2017

Please be informed that Eid Al-Adha (known as Hari Raya Haji or Hari Raya Qurban) for the year 2017 falls on Friday, 1st September 2017.

Since Eid Al-Adha is declared under s. 8 of the Holidays Act 1951, it must be observed as a compulsory public holiday pursuant to s. 60D(1)(b) of the Employment Act 1955. Subject to our statement below with reference to the states of Kelantan and Terengganu, this is applicable to all the states in Malaysia.

Notwithstanding this, by virtue of the second proviso to S. 60D(1A) of the Employment Act 1955, employers may grant any other day as a paid holiday in substitution for this holiday. If no substitution is made then employees are entitled to receive the holiday rate of pay for working on that day.

ONLY FOR EMPLOYERS IN KELANTAN & TERENGGANU

Eid-Al-Adha is declared as a 2-day public holiday in the states of Kelantan and Terengganu as per the First Schedule of the Holidays Act 1951. As such, the next day, which is Saturday, 2nd September 2017, is also a public holiday for those states.

Please be aware that the states of Kelantan and Terengganu operate on a 5 day week, from Sundays to Thursdays, with Fridays treated as off-days and Saturdays treated as rest days.

Applying s. 59 of the Employment Act 1955, for the purposes of this circular, Saturday will be regarded as the official rest day.

a) 1st September 2017

In that regard, employers in Kelantan and Terengganu who observe Friday as the off-day and Saturday as the official rest day, may observe 1st September 2017 as a public holiday falling on an off-day. There is no statutory requirement to substitute / replace a public holiday that falls on an off-day. Employees required to work on 1st September 2017 will be entitled to receive their holiday rate of pay for working on 1st September 2017.

b) 2nd September 2017

Since the 2nd day of Eid Al-Adha 2017 falls on the rest day for the states of Kelantan and Terengganu, the next working day should be granted as a substituted holiday according to the proviso under s. 60D(1) of the Employment Act 1955 as it states that where the public holiday falls on a rest day, the working day that immediately follows the public holiday shall be a paid holiday in substitution of the mentioned public holiday.

Employers in the states of Kelantan and Terengganu who observe this 2nd day of Eid-Al- Adha as a public holiday will therefore have to substitute this holiday to the working day that immediately follows the public holiday, i.e. Sunday, 3rd September 2017.

APPLICABLE TO ALL

We would also like to remind you that by virtue of s. 60D(2) of the Employment Act 1955, if the employee is absent without leave or reasonable excuse on the working day immediately preceding or immediately succeeding a public holiday, he forfeits entitlement to the holiday pay. This means that he will not be paid for the day he is absent and for the public holiday.

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