Guide · Work · 5 min read
Annual, sick, maternity and paternity leave
How much paid leave you get, when you must take it, and what happens to leave you have not taken when you go.
In plain English · by mylaw.my · not legal advice· Law as at 30 Sep 2026
The short answer
Paid annual leave is 8, 12 or 16 days for every 12 months of continuous service with the same employer, depending on how long that employer has employed you: less than 2 years, 2 years or more but less than 5, or 5 years or more.
Paid sick leave without hospitalisation is 14, 18 or 22 days in each calendar year by the same bands of service, or 60 days in each calendar year if hospitalisation is necessary.
Maternity leave is at least 98 consecutive days for each confinement.
A married male employee who meets the conditions set out below is entitled to 7 consecutive days of paid paternity leave for each confinement, for up to 5 confinements.
The Employment Act applies to Peninsular Malaysia only.
If you work in Sabah or Sarawak, check which law applies to you there.
On this page · 6 parts
Annual leave
If your contract ends before you have completed 12 months of continuous service in that year, your annual leave is in proportion to the months you completed.
You are not entitled to annual leave for a 12-month period if you were absent without your employer's permission and without reasonable excuse for more than 10% of the working days in it.
Annual leave is in addition to your rest days and paid holidays. If you become entitled to sick leave or maternity leave while on annual leave, you get the sick or maternity leave, and those days of annual leave count as not taken.
Employment Act s 60E(1A), (1B)
Your employer must grant, and you must take, the leave no later than 12 months after the end of each 12 months of continuous service, or you stop being entitled to it. If your employer asks and you agree in writing not to take some or all of it, you are paid for that leave instead.
If your contract is terminated by either side before you have taken the annual leave you are entitled to, your employer must pay you your ordinary rate for every day of it, unless you were dismissed under section 14(1)(a).
Sick leave
You are entitled to paid sick leave after an examination, at your employer's expense, by a registered medical practitioner your employer has appointed. If none is appointed, or one cannot be reached within a reasonable time or distance, another registered medical practitioner or a medical officer can examine you.
If a registered medical practitioner or medical officer certifies that you are ill enough to need hospitalisation but you are not hospitalised for any reason, you are treated as hospitalised.
Sick leave after an examination by a dental surgeon also counts, within the same number of days.
If your sick leave is not certified, or you do not inform or try to inform your employer within 48 hours of it starting, you are treated as absent without permission and without reasonable excuse for those days.
Maternity leave
A female employee is entitled to maternity leave for an eligible period of not less than 98 consecutive days in respect of each confinement.
Employment Act s 37(1)(a), (d)
She is entitled to a maternity allowance from her employer for that period if she worked for the employer for at least 90 days in total in the 9 months before her confinement, and was employed by the employer at any time in the 4 months before it.
She is not entitled to the maternity allowance if she has 5 or more surviving children at the time of her confinement.
An employer who terminates her service during the period she is entitled to maternity leave commits an offence, unless the termination is because the employer's business closed.
Within the 60 days before her expected confinement, she must tell her employer about it and the date she intends to start maternity leave. If she starts the leave without telling her employer, her maternity allowance may be suspended until she does.
Paternity leave
A married male employee is entitled to paid paternity leave at his ordinary rate of pay for 7 consecutive days for each confinement, for up to 5 confinements however many spouses he has.
He is entitled to it if he has worked for the same employer for at least 12 months immediately before the leave starts, and told his employer of his spouse's pregnancy at least 30 days before the expected confinement or as early as possible after the birth.
If your employer does not give you your leave
If you are not sure the Employment Act covers you, ask the Labour Department of Peninsular Malaysia.
The Director General can inquire into and decide a dispute between you and your employer about wages or other cash payments due under your contract or the Employment Act, and order your employer to pay the sum found just.
Laws in this guide
- s 60Employment Act 1955
Explained in this guide
- s 37Employment Act 1955
Explained in this guide
- s 1Employment Act 1955
- s 40Employment Act 1955
Explained in this guide
- s 69Employment Act 1955
Explained in this guide
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