Boss in M’sia Allegedly Denied Man’s MC ‘Coz It’s a Toothache; Even Said The Reason Was ‘Childish’

Even if you somehow wanted to skip school as a kid, nobody really wants to get sick.

What’s worse is getting sick during this virus pandemic could make someone (me) even more panicky than usual.

However, what happens when you’re sick but are still being made to go to work anyway?

And then your boss low-key attempts to downplay your condition.

“Childish Excuse”

According to World of Buzz, a man in Malaysia known as ‘Iman’ was suffering from a toothache.

He then took to his work group chat to inform his boss that he would be on sick leave on 5 September, even taking a picture of his medical certificate (MC) as proof.

Seems responsible enough, right?

However, his boss responded with this instead of letting him take his sick leave.

The boss called Iman childish and immediately asked if he had made alternate arrangements for his shift.

A followup message also told Iman that if there wasn’t a replacement, he should take some painkillers and be at the office by 5.30pm.

We might be quick to call out the boss’ seemingly curt remark, but we also need to check if he’s actually allowed to do this.

Was What The Boss Did Right?

World of Buzz cites Malaysia’s Section 60F(2)(b) of the Employment Act 1955 as follows:

“An employee who absents himself on sick leave,

• (a) which is not certified by a registered medical practitioner
• (b) which is certified by such registered medical practitioner but without informing or attempting to inform his employer of such sick leave within 48 hours of the commencement thereof,

shall be deemed to absent himself from work without the permission of his employer and without reasonable excuse for the days on which he is so absent from work.”

So unless Iman had already used all his days of sick leave, his boss should not be able to refuse his request and MC.

In fact, under Section 100 (5) of Malaysia’s Employment Act, it is actually an offence if the boss fails to grant him the sick leave and pay him during the said leave.

You can check out the rest of it here.

But what if this happens in Singapore?

In Singapore, the procedure is similar according to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) in which you have to inform your employer within 48 hours of the absence.

In fact, under our country’s Employment Act, section 90—(1) states the following:

“Any employer who employs any person as an employee contrary to the provisions of this Part or fails to pay any salary in accordance with the provisions of this Part shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $5,000, and for a second or subsequent offence to a fine not exceeding $10,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.”

So there are a few similarities in both.

There are, however, a whole bunch of other things to take note off, which you can read in its entirety here.