# Minimum Wage and the Rules on Paying Wages

> The gazetted RM1,700 minimum wage with its hourly and daily derivations, paired with the seven-day payment deadline and the limits on lawful deductions.

- Category: employment
- Language: en
- Status: published
- Updated: 2026-07-20
- Canonical: https://negaraku.md/en/employment/minimum-wage-malaysia

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Knowing the rate is the easy part. An employer who pays RM1,700 on the 20th of
the following month, after docking a week's pay for a broken laptop, has complied
with the Minimum Wages Order and broken the Employment Act twice.

## The gazetted rate

The Minimum Wages Order 2024, P.U.(A) 376, was gazetted on 4 December 2024 under
s.23 of the National Wages Consultative Council Act 2011 and revoked the 2022
Order.

| Basis | Rate |
| --- | --- |
| Monthly | RM1,700 |
| Hourly | RM8.72 |
| Daily — 6-day week | RM65.38 |
| Daily — 5-day week | RM78.46 |
| Daily — 4-day week | RM98.08 |

For an employee paid solely on piece rate, tonnage, task, trip or commission, the
monthly wage must not be less than RM1,700.

The Order does not apply to domestic servants as defined in s.2(1) of the
Employment Act 1955, s.2(1) of the Sabah Labour Ordinance and s.2(1) of the
Sarawak Labour Ordinance.

**The deferment is over.** Paragraph 4 gave employers with fewer than five
employees a transitional RM1,500 (RM7.21 an hour) — but only from 1 February 2025
to 31 July 2025. Paragraph 5 brought them to RM1,700 from 1 August 2025.
Employers carrying out a professional activity classified under MASCO were on
RM1,700 from 1 February 2025 regardless of headcount.

No Minimum Wages Order 2026 has been gazetted. The National Wages Consultative
Council secretariat portal shows RM1,700 as the operative rate and records
engagement sessions on a review of the 2024 Order held during 2026.

## Paying it on time: s.19

Under s.19(1) of the Employment Act 1955, wages less lawful deductions must be
paid **not later than the seventh day after the last day of the wage period**.
Rest-day, gazetted public-holiday and s.60A overtime pay may run to the last day
of the next wage period under s.19(2). Only the Director General can extend the
period, on the employer's application, and only where payment in time is not
reasonably practicable.

A monthly wage period ending 31 January must therefore be paid by 7 February. A
policy of paying on the 10th is not a payroll preference; it is a standing
contravention.

## Deducting from it: s.24

s.24(1) starts from a prohibition — no deduction may be made otherwise than in
accordance with the Act. Four categories are lawful without more under s.24(2):
overpayment of wages made in the immediately preceding three months by the
employer's mistake, indemnity due under s.13(1), recovery of an interest-free
advance made under s.22, and deductions authorised by any other written law.

Beyond those, s.24(3) requires the employee's **written request** for trade union
or thrift-society payments and share purchases; s.24(4) requires the employee's
written request **and the Director General's prior written permission** for
superannuation and insurance schemes, interest-bearing advance repayments,
payments to third parties, purchases of the employer's goods, and accommodation,
services, food or meals.

Deductions in any one month may not exceed **50% of that month's wages** under
s.24(8), with exceptions in s.24(9) for s.13(1) indemnity, final-payment
deductions on termination, and housing loans, which may go a further 25% with
written permission.

Nothing in s.24 authorises a deduction for damaged property, till shortages,
lateness or resigning without notice as a stand-alone penalty.

## Common mistakes

- Paying on a fixed calendar date later than the seventh day after the wage period
  ends, and calling it company policy.
- Deducting the cost of damaged equipment or stock losses — no paragraph of s.24
  permits it.
- Treating an employee's signature on a handbook as the written request s.24(3)
  and s.24(4) require for a specific deduction.
- Assuming small employers are still on RM1,500. That ended on 31 July 2025.
- Prorating a monthly salary to a daily rate by dividing by 30 instead of using
  the Order's working-day derivations.

## What's next

Check three settings in payroll: the pay date against the seventh-day rule, the
deduction codes against s.24, and the hourly and daily divisors against the Order.
Then confirm the resulting gross is at or above RM1,700 before statutory
deductions — the minimum wage is a floor on wages payable, not on take-home pay.

## Sources

- Perintah Gaji Minimum 2024 — P.U.(A) 376 — https://gajiminimum.mohr.gov.my/wp-content/uploads/PUA%20376.pdf (Attorney General's Chambers / MOHR)
- Sekretariat Majlis Perundingan Gaji Negara — https://gajiminimum.mohr.gov.my/ (MOHR)
- Employment Act 1955 (Act 265) — updated text of reprint — https://jtksm.mohr.gov.my/sites/default/files/2023-11/Akta%20Kerja%201955%20(Akta%20265)_0.pdf (JTKSM)
- National Wages Consultative Council Act 2011 (Act 732) — https://jtksm.mohr.gov.my/sites/default/files/2023-03/3.%20National%20Wages%20Consultative%20Council%20Act%202011.pdf (JTKSM)

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