Guides
Maternity Leave Malaysia

Maternity Leave Malaysia: An Employer’s Guide

  1. Maternity leave cannot start more than 30 days before the expected date of childbirth unless a medical officer or a registered medical practitioner certifies that the employee is unable to perform her duties due to the pregnancy.
  2. If certified as such, the employee can be required to start maternity leave at any time within 14 days before the expected delivery date.
  3. Maternity leave must begin no later than the day after childbirth.
  4. The standard period of maternity leave is a minimum of 98 consecutive days.

  1. An employee is entitled to a maternity allowance if she has worked for the employer for a period of, or periods totaling, not less than 90 days in the nine months immediately before her confinement.
  2. She must also have been employed by the employer at any time during the four months immediately before her confinement.
  3. The allowance is payable for the eligible period of maternity leave (not less than 98 consecutive days).
  4. A female employee is not entitled to any maternity allowance if, at the time of her confinement, she has five or more surviving children.
  • Maternity Leave refers to the actual time off granted to a female employee to recover from childbirth and care for her newborn.
  • Maternity Allowance refers to the financial compensation paid during this leave period. It is meant to support the employee financially when she is not earning her regular wage due to being on leave.
  • The eligibility for maternity leave itself does not seem to be directly contingent on the length of service. A female employee is entitled to maternity leave for each confinement.
  • However, the eligibility for maternity allowance, which is the payment received during maternity leave, does have specific service length requirements. To be eligible for the maternity allowance, the female employee must have been employed for a period of, or periods amounting in aggregate to, not less than ninety days during the nine months immediately before her confinement. Additionally, she must have been employed by the employer at any time in the four months immediately before her confinement.

  • Termination due to a breach of the agreed employment contract under section 13(2);
  • Termination due to misconduct under section 14(1); and
  • Termination due to the employer’s business closure.


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