Can Employer Reduce Salary During MCO Period?
雇主可以在MCO期间扣除雇员的工资吗?(中文点击这里)
For the employees earning RM2,000 and below, employed as manual labour or domestic servant, the only provision authorizing an employer to make salary deduction is provided under Section 24 of the Employment Act 1955:-
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deductions to the extent of any overpayment of wages made during the immediately preceding three months from the month in which deductions are to be made, by the employer to the employee by the employer’s mistake;
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deductions for the indemnity due to the employer by the employee for termination of contract without notice;
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deductions for the recovery of advances of wages provided no interest is charged on the advances; and
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deductions authorized by any other written law.
It must be noted that the above situations caused by MCO not fall under any categories under Section 24 of the Employment Act 1955 that allows an employer to deduct the salary. An employer who contravenes this section may be liable to an offense in the Employment Act 1955 punishable with a fine not exceeding RM10,000.
While for the employees earning RM2,000 or more, there is no statutory provision to regulate deduction of salary. However, a salary reduction is essentially a variation of an employee’s contract which requires a salary reduction to be with the employee’s consent. An employers is entitled to reduce the employees’ salaries if able to justify that the business is at extreme difficulty and after exhausting all reasonable steps provided the employees consent to it. Failure to obtain consent before a reduction may amount to a breach of contract by the employer.
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对于年薪2,000令吉及以下的雇员,以体力劳动或家庭佣工,1955年劳工法令第24条是唯一授权于雇主合法扣除工资的条例:
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雇主错误多付给雇员最近三個月的工资;
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扣除雇员在没有给予通知的情况下终止合同需付给雇主的赔偿;
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收回工资预支, 前提是预支沒有付利息; 和
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其他书面法律所允许的扣除。
必须指出的是,由MCO引起的上述情况不落于1955年劳工法令第24条的任何类别令雇主有权从中扣除工资。若雇主违反本条的规定,可处以1955年劳工法令第中的罪行,可被判刑不超过1万令吉的罚款。
对于年薪2,000令吉或以上的雇员,虽然没有法定条例调节雇员工资扣除事项,但这并不意味着雇主可以不必要地实行任何雇员的工资扣除。扣除工资是雇员合同里重要的变异。因此,法律一般要求减薪之事都应事先咨询并获得雇员的同意。如果雇主有充分的理由证明该企业处于极端困难之中,并且在竭尽所有合理步骤之后,只要雇员同意,雇主有权扣除其工资。扣除前未获得同意可构成雇主违反合同。
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