Maternity leave has been part of the Employment Act for decades, but paternity leave is comparatively new — introduced by the 2022 amendments — and a lot of shift-based employers still schedule around the old rules, or don't know the paternity entitlement exists at all. Both carry specific eligibility conditions that trip up rosters more often than the headline day counts suggest.
Maternity leave: 98 days, and the eligibility trap
Female employees are entitled to 98 consecutive days of paid maternity leave (Section 37), increased from the previous 60 days by the 2022 amendments. But entitlement to pay during that leave isn't automatic — Section 37(4) requires that the employee has been employed at any time in the four months immediately before confinement, and has worked at least 90 days in the 9 months immediately before confinement. An employee who doesn't meet this working-days threshold — common with newer part-time or casual hires — is still entitled to the leave itself, but not necessarily the pay.
There's also a cap worth knowing for businesses with high turnover: maternity allowance is only payable for a maximum of five surviving children at a time, per Section 41.
Paternity leave: 7 days, with its own conditions
Male employees get 7 consecutive days of paid paternity leave per confinement (Section 60FA), capped at 5 confinements total regardless of how many employers they've worked for across their career. To qualify, the employee must have been employed for a continuous period of at least 12 months before the confinement, must be or have been married to the mother, and must notify the employer — in writing, at least 30 days before the confinement where reasonably practicable, or as soon as possible after an early delivery.
Job protection during and around leave
Termination of a female employee during her maternity leave, or notice of termination that would expire during it, is prohibited except in narrow circumstances such as closure of the business, wilful breach of contract, or misconduct (Section 37(4A)-(5)) — and the burden is on the employer to justify the exception. This is exactly the kind of provision where roster and HR records matter: a documented, consistent employment history is what supports the employer's position if a termination near a leave period is ever challenged.
What this means for scheduling ahead of time
Because paternity leave requires advance written notice and maternity leave is a known, dated event once confirmed, both are genuinely plannable in a way that sick leave isn't. The practical failure mode for shift-based businesses isn't legal non-compliance so much as scheduling chaos — not building the coverage gap into the roster far enough in advance, especially for small teams where one absence has an outsized effect on shift coverage.
Frequently asked questions
Is there paternity leave for husbands/fathers in Malaysia? Yes — since the 2022 amendments, male employees are entitled to 7 consecutive days of paid paternity leave per confinement (Section 60FA), subject to the 12-month service, marriage, and notice conditions above. This is sometimes searched as "maternity leave for husband," but it's legally a separate entitlement called paternity leave.
Is Malaysia's parental leave the same as maternity or paternity leave? The Employment Act doesn't use the term "parental leave" — it separately defines maternity leave (98 days, for the mother) and paternity leave (7 days, for the father). There's no additional shared or gender-neutral "parental leave" entitlement under the Act itself.
What is statutory maternity pay in Malaysia? It's the wages paid during the 98-day maternity leave period, calculated at the ordinary rate of pay — subject to the 90-days-in-9-months working eligibility rule under Section 37(4) described above.
The practical takeaway
Check the 90-days-in-9-months maternity pay eligibility rule against any newer or part-time staff before assuming maternity pay applies automatically, and make sure male staff on your team actually know the paternity leave entitlement exists — it's easy to miss precisely because it's newer than the rest of the Act.