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This two-day practical programme equips HR professionals, people managers and business leaders with a working understanding of Malaysian employment law across the employee lifecycle, from hiring, contracts and statutory entitlements to workplace issues, disciplinary action, separation and dismissal risk. Designed at foundation to intermediate level, the programme requires no formal legal qualification and focuses on the employment-law issues that HR practitioners and managers encounter most frequently in Peninsular Malaysia and Labuan.

Participants will learn how to make more lawful, consistent and defensible employment decisions by understanding which laws apply, identifying employee entitlements and following appropriate procedures before taking action. Particular attention is given to areas that commonly create organisational risk, including employment contracts, probation, wages and working hours, leave entitlements, flexible-working requests, discrimination, sexual harassment, misconduct investigations, domestic inquiries, retrenchment and unfair dismissal.

The programme combines guided statutory briefings, Malaysian employment and industrial-relations cases, decision-making exercises and Industrial Court examples. Participants will also use HRLah.my, a Malaysian HR and employment-law research companion, to locate legislation, verify governing provisions and review relevant Industrial Court decisions. The emphasis remains on human analysis first, with AI used as a supporting research and verification tool. By the end of the programme, participants will be better prepared to identify legal risks early, strengthen HR documentation and make workplace decisions that support compliance and industrial harmony.

What Will You Learn?

By the end of this programme, participants will be able to:

• Identify the relevant statute, employee category, legal coverage and appropriate forum before making an employment decision.
• Review employment contracts, handbooks and probation arrangements for common compliance and drafting risks.
• Apply statutory requirements relating to wages, lawful deductions, working hours, rest days, public holidays and overtime.
• Administer annual leave, sick leave, maternity and paternity protection while distinguishing statutory entitlements from company benefits.
• Respond appropriately to flexible-working applications, discrimination concerns, sexual-harassment complaints and employee privacy issues.
• Distinguish between poor performance, misconduct, incapacity and redundancy and determine the appropriate process for each.
• Conduct investigations, manage disciplinary procedures and end employment with appropriate notice, payments and documentation.
• Understand how dismissal decisions may be assessed by the Industrial Court and use HRLah.my to verify legal requirements against governing provisions.

Course Outline

Module 1: Legal Framework, Jurisdiction and Coverage

• Understand the key employment and industrial-relations laws in Malaysia.
• Identify which employees and worker categories are covered by different provisions.
• Distinguish employees, contractors, part-time, fixed-term and gig workers.
• Understand which authorities and courts handle different employment disputes.

Module 2: Hiring, Contracts, Probation and Worker Classification

• Review offer letters, employment contracts and handbook provisions.
• Understand essential employment terms, confidentiality and restrictive covenants.
• Manage probation, extensions and confirmation appropriately.
• Distinguish contracts of service from independent-contractor arrangements.

Module 3: Wages, Working Time, Rest Days and Holidays

• Understand statutory wages, allowances, benefits and reimbursements.
• Apply wage-payment deadlines and lawful deduction requirements.
• Manage working hours, shift work and minimum-wage requirements.
• Understand overtime, rest-day and public-holiday entitlements.

Module 4: Leave, Family Protection and Statutory Benefits

• Apply annual, sick and hospitalisation leave requirements.
• Distinguish statutory leave from additional company-provided benefits.
• Understand maternity, pregnancy and paternity protections.
• Improve leave policies, records and administration practices.

Module 5: Workplace Rights, Harassment, Discrimination and Privacy

• Respond appropriately to flexible-working applications.
• Manage discrimination and sexual-harassment complaints fairly.
• Handle employee complaints, confidentiality and evidence appropriately.
• Understand workplace privacy and employee-data responsibilities.

Module 6: Misconduct, Investigation and Domestic Inquiry

• Distinguish misconduct from performance, incapacity and other workplace issues.
• Apply counselling, warnings and progressive disciplinary approaches.
• Plan investigations, preserve evidence and prepare show-cause letters.
• Understand when a domestic inquiry is appropriate and how procedural fairness applies.

Module 7: Ending Employment Lawfully

• Manage resignation, notice periods and payment in lieu correctly.
• Handle non-confirmation, fixed-term expiry and mutual separation.
• Understand termination involving misconduct, poor performance or incapacity.
• Manage redundancy, retrenchment, final payments and separation documentation.

Module 8: Unfair Dismissal and the Industrial Court

• Understand dismissal without just cause or excuse.
• Learn how dismissal disputes progress to the Industrial Court.
• Recognise the importance of evidence, procedural fairness and documentation.
• Assess dismissal risk and identify when specialist advice may be required.