Status of contract workers in public and private sectors: a comparison

• Main Author: Ali Mohamed, Ashgar Ali
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lexis Nexis Malaysia Sdn Bhd 2021
• Subjects: K Law (General); K1701 Labor Law; K3400 Administrative Law
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/91969/1/91969_Status%20of%20contract%20workers%20in%20public.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/91969/

A person’s employment contract whether in the public or private sector may either be a regular full-time permanent contract or a fixed term contract with a specified duration of time or the performance of a specified piece of work. The need for labour to carry out the day-to-day management of the company is the employer’s prerogative who may decide to engage workers in the abovementioned categories and a worker’s rights and obligations in employment are determined with reference to his or her employment status. The public sector employees as spelled out in art 132 of the Federal Constitution enjoy special protection as conferred by art 135. While employees in the private sector enjoy employment protection since 1980’s vide the Industrial Relations Act 1967.1 Before that, the employment relationship was contractual where either party may terminate the contract by serving appropriate notice, expressed in the contract or implied reasonable notice. Having said the above, this article discusses the status of fixed term contract workers in the public and private sectors particularly in relation to their job security.