EMPLOYERS cannot terminate employees on maternity leave or on sick leave while pregnant, Deputy Human Resources Minister Mustapha Sakmud told the Dewan Rakyat today.

He said the matter was stated in the Employment Act 1955, and any employer going against the regulations could be subject to action.

“According to section 41A(1) of the Employment Act 1955, employers are prohibited from serving notice of termination to female employees who are pregnant or sick during pregnancy, unless there are grounds for misconduct or the ending of business operations.

“Employers can be prosecuted and compounded if they fail to comply with the regulations,” he replied to a supplementary question from Abd Ghani Ahmad (Jerlun-PN) about action against employers who terminate workers on maternity leave.

Mustapha said as of October 31, 44 complaints of employers denying pregnant employees their entitled 98-day maternity leave were received.

He said of the 44, 28 were well-founded complaints, while 16 were considered baseless.

“For the well-founded complaints, the employers involved have been given  warnings, and corrective action has been taken.

“All cases were resolved, with employers granting employees involved the 98-day maternity leave to which they are entitled,” he said to the original question from M. Kulasegaran (Ipoh Barat-PH) about measures taken by the government to ensure all bosses comply with the maternity leave policy that came into force on January 1. – Bernama, November 22, 2023.