Top Glove: Too many holidays not good for productivity
KUALA LUMPUR: Top Glove Corp Bhd says too many public holidays may not be good for productivity and efficiency.
“The estimated salary cost for one additional public holiday in Malaysia is about RM1.5 billion per day. Unplanned or ad hoc public holidays are disruptive for business,” said its chairman Tan Sri Lim Wee Chai in an interview yesterday.
Lim suggested three alternatives when granting a paid holiday declared under Section 8 of the Holidays Act 1951.
“We could observe the public holiday and allow employees the day off with pay. If the public holiday fall on a rest day or another public holiday, the following working day will be a substituted paid holiday,” he said.
Alternatively, employers could request employees to work on the holiday declared and compensate them by paying additional two days’ wages at the ordinary rate of pay.
Another option is for employers to request employees to work on the holiday and inform that the holiday will be substituted on another day as provided under Section 60D(1A) of the Employment Act 1955.
“Wages for work on that day should be the normal rate, not public holiday rate,” said Lim, adding that the company can substitute the holiday without its employees’ agreement.
The company has to fix the replacement date, which need not be the same date for all employees. Ooi Tee Ching