The past three years has been a busy, tumultuous, and very interesting period for HR and employment and industrial relations professionals in Malaysia. While 2020-21 saw employment lawyers — like most of the world — being kept occupied by the effects of the pandemic, and collectively learning on our feet, 2022 also threw lots of new issues our way, as clients adjusted to the new post-pandemic norms.
In Malaysia, a hot topic in 2022 was the long-awaited amendments to the Employment Act (“EA”)(originally scheduled to come into force on 1 September 2022, but postponed to 1 January 2023). I have already shared my views on the wide-ranging impact of (and some on-going uncertainty caused by) these major amendments. In this article, I canvassed the views of five fellow Malaysian employment lawyers on the EA amendments. I invited Amardeep Singh Toor, Donovan Cheah, Janice Anne Leo, Selvamalar Alagaratnam, and Wong Keat Ching to share insights on the following with readers of The Malaysian Lawyer:
- Their views on the EA amendments.
- The key areas their clients have been focusing on to adapt to the changes.
- Whether there is still non-compliance among employers.
- What issues/trends will keep employment lawyers busy this year.