Lim Wee Chai, who is the listed company’s chairman, was cited by the New Straits Times today as stressing that such an unplanned holiday could also be costly.
“The estimated salary cost for one additional public holiday in Malaysia is about RM1.5 billion per day,” he said.
“Unplanned or ad hoc public holidays are disruptive to business.”
He was commenting on the government’s move to observe a nationwide public holiday today, effectively giving Malaysians, especially civil servants, 17 days of paid public holidays this year.
Prime Minister Najib Razak declared Sept 4 as a holiday in appreciation for the outstanding achievements of the Malaysian contingent at the 29th Kuala Lumpur SEA Games.
Malaysia emerged as the overall champions after winning 145 gold, 92 silver and 86 bronze medals.
Lim said employers had alternatives when such paid holidays were granted under Section 8 of the Holidays Act 1951.
“We can observe the public holiday and allow employees the day off with pay. If the public holiday falls on a rest day or another public holiday, the following working day shall be a substituted paid holiday,” he reportedly said.
Employers could alternatively request their employees to work on the declared holiday and compensate them by paying additional two days’ wages at the ordinary rate of pay, he was quoted as saying.
Another option was to request the workers to work on the holiday, with their entitled break being used on another day, as provided under Section 60D(1A) of the Employment Act 1955, he added.
“Wages for work on that day should be the normal rate, not public holiday rate,” Lim was quoted as saying.
He added that a firm can also substitute the holiday without its employee’s agreement, with the replacement date. This need not be the same for all workers and is set by the employer.