Most Malaysians know roughly how many MC days they get. Fewer know the two details that decide whether a sick day is actually paid: which doctor signed the MC, and whether you told your employer in time. Both are written into the same section of the law, and both cause real disputes every year.
This guide is built on two primary sources read on 3 October 2026: the updated reprint of the Employment Act 1955 (Act 265) as at 1 January 2023, published on the Labour Department of Peninsular Malaysia (JTKSM) website, and JTKSM's own leave infographics from June 2023 and April 2025. It explains the law. It is not legal advice for a specific dispute.
*Cover image: a general practice clinic in Bukit Indah, Johor Bahru. Photo: Chongkian, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.*
How many sick days you get
Section 60F(1) sets paid sick leave per calendar year by length of service with the same employer:
- Under 2 years: 14 days
- 2 years to under 5 years: 18 days
- 5 years or more: 22 days
- Hospitalisation: 60 days
These are minimums. Your contract can give more, never less.
The 60 days are separate. Older articles often describe 60 days as a combined ceiling that includes your 14, 18 or 22. JTKSM's April 2025 infographic on section 60F says the opposite in plain words: hospitalisation leave is 60 days and does not include ordinary sick leave. So an employee with three years of service can, in principle, take 18 outpatient days and up to 60 hospitalisation days in the same year.
Certified but not admitted still counts. The proviso to section 60F(1) says that if a doctor certifies you are ill enough to need hospitalisation but you are not hospitalised "for any reason whatsoever", you are deemed hospitalised. A full ward is not your problem.
Dental MCs count. Section 60F(1A) adds MCs from a dental surgeon, but they come out of the same 14/18/22 and 60-day totals.
Which doctor can sign your MC
The law is stricter here than most people assume. Section 60F(1) says the examination is at the expense of the employer and is done by:
- a registered medical practitioner appointed by the employer, which is your panel clinic; or
- any other registered medical practitioner or a government medical officer, but only if the employer has not appointed one, or if the panel doctor cannot be reached within a reasonable time or distance given the illness.
In practice: if your company has a panel clinic and it is open and nearby, go there. If you fall ill at 2am, while travelling, or the panel clinic is closed, an MC from another registered doctor or a government clinic is valid under the Act. Keep the receipt and a note of why you went elsewhere.
The 48-hour rule
Section 60F(2) treats sick leave as absence without permission and without reasonable excuse in two cases:
- the MC is not from a doctor, medical officer or dental surgeon described above; or
- the MC is valid, but you did not inform or attempt to inform your employer within 48 hours of the sick leave starting.
The word "attempt" matters. A WhatsApp to your manager or an email to HR on the first morning is your proof. Do not wait until you are back at work to hand in the MC.
There is a second, harsher rule in section 15(2): an employee who is continuously absent for more than two consecutive working days without prior leave is deemed to have broken the contract, unless there is a reasonable excuse and the employer was told, or the employee tried to tell them, at the earliest opportunity. A long illness with no message is the scenario that ends in dismissal.
How you are paid
Section 60F(3) says the employer pays your ordinary rate of pay for each sick day. If you are on a monthly salary, you are treated as paid when your monthly wage arrives with no deduction for the sick days.
There are two periods with no sick pay under section 60F(4): while you are receiving maternity allowance, and while you are receiving temporary disablement payments from PERKESO or workmen's compensation after a work accident. In those periods the other scheme pays instead.
If a public holiday falls while you are on sick leave, section 60D(1B) requires the employer to give you another paid day off in its place.
Who this applies to
The Employment Act applies to Peninsular Malaysia and has been extended to Labuan. Since the 2022 amendments took effect on 1 January 2023, it covers everyone on a contract of service. The First Schedule switches off only certain overtime and holiday-pay subsections for people earning above RM4,000 a month. Sick leave is not one of them, so a manager on RM12,000 has the same section 60F entitlement as a clerk.
Workers in Sabah and Sarawak fall under the Sabah Labour Ordinance and the Sarawak Labour Ordinance, which have their own leave provisions. Check with the state labour department rather than assuming the Peninsular numbers apply.
If your employer refuses
Under section 100(5), an employer who fails to grant sick leave or pay sick leave pay as section 60F requires commits an offence, and the court orders the unpaid sick pay to be paid to you. Before that stage, you can file a claim at the nearest JTKSM labour office, which can inquire into wage disputes under section 69. JTKSM lists 03-8886 5000 as its general line and jtksm@mohr.gov.my for email.
A practical checklist for every sick day:
- Message your supervisor or HR on day one, in writing.
- Use the panel clinic if it is open and reachable; if not, note why.
- Keep the MC and the clinic receipt until the month's salary is in.
- If you are told to see a doctor and need admission, ask for that to be written on the MC.
