Sick leave in Malaysia: how many days, what an MC must say, and the 48-hour rule

Yap Pat Yih, Co-founder and General Manager · 2026-09-28 · 8 min read

The Employment Act gives you 14, 18 or 22 days of paid sick leave a year, and 60 if hospitalisation is necessary. How it works, what makes an MC valid, and the deadline that catches people out.

If you work in Peninsular Malaysia or Labuan, the Employment Act 1955 gives you paid sick leave every calendar year: 14 days in your first two years with an employer, 18 days from two to five years, and 22 days after five years, on a certificate from a registered doctor. If a doctor certifies that you need to be hospitalised, the entitlement for the year is 60 days. The rule that catches people out: you must tell your employer within 48 hours of the sick leave starting.

TL;DR

14, 18 or 22 paid sick days a year, depending on how long you have worked for the same employer (section 60F(1)).
60 paid days a year if a doctor certifies that hospitalisation is necessary, even if you are not actually admitted.
The certificate (MC) comes from your employer's appointed doctor, or another registered doctor or government medical officer when that doctor cannot be reached. A dentist's MC counts too.
Tell your employer within 48 hours, or the days count as absence without permission (section 60F(2)).
Sick leave is paid at your ordinary rate: a monthly-paid employee gets the full month's wage with nothing deducted (section 60F(3)).
The Act has no carry-forward and no payout for sick leave.

How many days of sick leave do you get?

Section 60F sets the minimum for each calendar year, by how long you have been employed:

Less than 2 years: 14 days
2 years to less than 5 years: 18 days
5 years or more: 22 days
If hospitalisation is necessary: 60 days

The count runs January to December, not from the day you joined. Unlike annual leave, the Act has no rule that pro-rates sick leave for someone who joins part-way through the year, so the calendar year's figure applies. Employers may give more. At BlackRevo the figures are exactly the statutory ones, 14, 18 and 22, and they are the same at every grade.

Since 1 January 2023 the Act covers everyone in Peninsular Malaysia and Labuan who has a contract of service, whatever they earn. The RM4,000 wage line now removes only a few provisions, such as overtime, and sick leave is not one of them. Sabah and Sarawak have their own Labour Ordinances.

What about hospitalisation leave?

If a doctor certifies that hospitalisation is necessary, the Act gives 60 days of paid sick leave in that calendar year (section 60F(1)(bb)). You do not have to be admitted for it to count: if you are certified as ill enough to need hospital but are not hospitalised for any reason, the Act treats you as hospitalised.

What the Act does not spell out is how the 60 days sit alongside the 14, 18 or 22. It lists the two as alternatives and says no more. Many employers treat 60 as the year's total, with ordinary sick days already taken counting toward it, and that is how our handbook reads at BlackRevo: ten days of MC in March and a three-week hospital stay in August leave 29 days, not 60. Check your own handbook or contract, because this is where employers differ.

What makes an MC valid?

Paid sick leave follows an examination by a doctor, and the Act says that examination is at your employer's expense. The doctor should be the registered medical practitioner your employer has appointed, usually a panel clinic. If there is no appointed doctor, or your illness means that doctor cannot be reached within a reasonable time or distance, any other registered medical practitioner or a government medical officer can examine you (section 60F(1)).

Since the 2022 amendment a dental surgeon's certificate counts as well, but the days come out of the same 14, 18, 22 or 60, not on top (section 60F(1A)).

Three things to check on the MC before you send it:

Your name and IC number as they appear on your employment record.
The dates covered, including the start date, and the number of days.
The clinic's stamp and the doctor's name and registration details.

An MC missing any of these can be queried.

The 48-hour rule

Section 60F(2) covers two situations. If your sick leave is not certified by a doctor or dentist, or it is certified but you do not inform, or try to inform, your employer within 48 hours of it starting, the Act deems you absent from work without your employer's permission and without reasonable excuse for those days.

In practice: a message before work starts on the first day, then the MC as soon as you have it. A WhatsApp to your manager at 8 am and a photo of the MC by lunchtime is the safe version.

At BlackRevo the MC goes into Lumen, our HR system, within 48 hours, and you keep the original in case HR asks for it. A sick day without a valid MC is taken as annual leave, or unpaid leave if annual leave is used up.

Is sick leave paid, and at what rate?

Yes. Your employer pays your ordinary rate of pay for every day of sick leave (section 60F(3)). If you are paid monthly, that simply means you receive your full monthly wage with nothing taken off for the days you were sick. Where a daily figure is needed, the Act sets a monthly-paid employee's ordinary rate of pay as the monthly wage divided by 26 (section 60I(1A)). Sick leave is also not taken from your annual leave; how annual leave works is in our guide to annual leave in Malaysia.

What sick leave does not do:

It does not carry forward. The Act gives the days per calendar year and has no rule for carrying them over.
It is not paid out when you leave. The Act's payout rule is for unused annual leave only.
It is not paid on top of certain other payments. There is no paid sick leave for a period in which you receive maternity allowance, workmen's compensation, or SOCSO payments for temporary disablement (section 60F(4)).

Sick on a rest day, a public holiday or during annual leave

If you fall sick during your annual leave and are given sick leave, those days become sick leave and the annual leave is treated as not taken, so you get it back (section 60E(1B)). If a public holiday falls during your sick leave, your employer must give you another paid day off in its place (section 60D(1B)). The Act says nothing about sick leave that falls on a rest day, so that is company policy: ask HR in writing how they count it.

Where medical claims come in

Sick leave is about the days off. The Act also puts the examination that qualifies you for sick leave at your employer's expense, but says nothing about medicine, specialists or treatment beyond it; those are covered only if your contract or handbook says so. Many employers, including us, offer medical claims as a benefit on top: our job postings list medical, dental and optical claims among the benefits. At interview, ask about both: the sick days, and what a clinic visit costs you.

If you are reading this before your first job, our open roles are on the careers page.

Source: the Employment Act 1955 (Act 265), reprint as at 1 August 2023, sections 60D, 60E, 60F and 60I and the First Schedule.

FAQ

How many days of sick leave are you entitled to in Malaysia?

14 days a year with under two years of service, 18 days from two to five years, and 22 days after five years, under section 60F of the Employment Act 1955, on a doctor's certificate. If a doctor certifies that hospitalisation is necessary, the entitlement is 60 days a year.

Is hospitalisation leave in addition to sick leave?

The Act gives 60 days a year where hospitalisation is necessary but does not say whether they come on top of the 14, 18 or 22 days. Many employers, BlackRevo included, treat 60 as the year's total, with ordinary sick days counting toward it. Check your contract or handbook.

What happens if you do not inform your employer within 48 hours?

The Act deems those days absence without your employer's permission and without reasonable excuse, so they are not paid sick leave. Send a message before work starts and the MC as soon as you have it.

Is sick leave paid in Malaysia?

Yes. Every day of sick leave you are entitled to is paid at your ordinary rate of pay. A monthly-paid employee receives the full month's wage with nothing deducted for the sick days.

Can an employer reject an MC?

An employer can query an MC that does not meet the Act's conditions, such as one from another clinic when the appointed panel doctor was within reasonable reach, or one that is not from a registered doctor, government medical officer or dentist. An MC that meets the conditions is paid sick leave, and if it is refused you can raise it with the Labour Department.

Yap Pat Yih: Yap Pat Yih is Co-founder and General Manager of BlackRevo and looks after the team, the hiring and the HR system they run on.

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