GE15: HR role before the election
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In Malaysia, employers are advised to provide their employees time off so they can participate in the nation's 15th general election on November 19. The Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) urged employers to provide their employees time off despite voting day falling on a Saturday.
Employees who are registered voters and have 12-hour shifts throughout the day should be provided adequate time off to cast their ballots on November 19.
Employees who are out-of-town voters who need to travel back to their hometowns to cast their ballots should also be given paid or unpaid time off.
Additionally, employers might think about other options like letting employees arrive at work two hours late, giving them a two-hour extension on their lunch break, or letting them leave two hours early.
According to Malaysia's Election Offences Act of 1954, employers are required to give their staff members a "reasonable period for voting."
The legislation states that every company must give every employee who is an elector a fair amount of time to vote on election day. No employer is allowed to withhold money from an employee's pay or other compensation or to penalize them for missing out on voting during that time.
"Any employer who, directly or indirectly, refuses to grant any elector in his employ a reasonable period for voting, as in this section provided, or interferes with the granting of a reasonable period for voting, by intimidation, undue influence, or in any other manner, shall, upon summary conviction, be liable to a fine of five thousand ringgit or imprisonment for one year."
Previously, Datuk Seri M. Saravanan, minister of human resources, emphasized that any Malaysian citizen older than 18 has the right to vote.
"The employers must comply with the government's directive. They must allow employees to vote. Whether the employees are given public holidays (cuti peristiwa), replacement leave, or time off," he said, according to Bernama.
According to the minister, actions will be taken against employers who refuse to comply with the directive.
The Star reports that around 21.1 million Malaysians are eligible to vote in the upcoming general election. This comes on the heels of a recent amendment that lowered the voting age to 18 and automatically registered those who reach 18 as eligible voters.
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