PETALING JAYA: A business group has called for more clarity about the government’s decision to allow flexible working arrangements from Sept 1.
The Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce and Industry said the government should have given more thought and carried out an in-depth study before implementing the idea.
The group’s executive director, Shaun Cheah, said: “We have a lot of multinational corporations who are already practising flexible working arrangements. However, we are wary of the (potential) abuse by employees who may try to hack the system.
“If an employer rejects an employee’s application due to a prior history of disciplinary problems, can the employee use the rejection in the labour court as the basis for an action of constructive dismissal?”
The government recently announced that employees could apply for flexible working arrangements with their respective employers from Sept 1, when amendments to the Employment Act come into force.
Written applications can be made for changes in working hours, work days or places of work. Employers must respond within 60 days and provide reasons if an application is rejected.
Cheah said the provisions were too vague. He questioned what would constitute an acceptable reason for rejecting an application. There were also questions about liability if salaries and allowances were adjusted.
Some employees received compensation for parking and travel, he said. He asked if employers could reduce payments to those who chose to work from home as worker compensation was a contractual matter.
He said the human resources ministry should clarify.
Malaysian Employers Federation president Syed Hussain Syed Husman said he believed that employers had the flexibility to accept or reject an employee’s application for flexible work.
“Grounds for rejecting an application would vary depending on a company’s operational requirements, and an employer may state that FWA is not suitable for their company’s operations,” Syed Hussain said.
The Small and Medium Enterprises Association said many businesses already grant flexible work arrangements on a case-by-case basis, especially for women, retirees, and students.
However, its chairman, William Ng, said that as employers, SMEs want to retain the right to determine what was appropriate based on business requirements and market conditions.
“We don’t want to have flexible work arrangements forced upon us,” he said.
