GE15: Call for private sector to observe public holiday on Friday, Saturday

KUALA LUMPUR: Human Resource Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan has urged the private sector to observe the public holidays this Friday and Saturday to give employees the opportunity to fulfill their responsibilities as voters.

He said this was to fulfill the purpose and intention of giving the public holidays by the Federal Government in encouraging Malaysians to vote in conjunction with the 15th General Election (GE15), this Saturday (Nov 19).

He underscored that the public holidays were declared under Section 8, Holidays Act 1951 (Act 369) which is a general holiday allocated to workers in the private sector pursuant to Section 60D(1)(b) of the Employment Act 1955.

"According to these provisions, employers can substitute any other day in lieu of a paid public holiday for employees," he said in a statement today.

Therefore, Saravanan said employers are required to inform employees whether to choose the dates of Nov 18 and 19 as public holidays or replace them with other dates.

If there is no replacement (days), employees who work on those dates are eligible to receive the salary rate for public holidays, he said.

-- BERNAMA