# Public holidays in Malaysia and the Employment Act rule

> The federal and state public holiday structure, the 2026 federal dates, and the Employment Act rule that decides how many of them an employee is actually paid for.

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

---

Two systems run in parallel and they answer different questions. The **Holidays Act
1951** decides which days are public holidays and where. The **Employment Act 1955**
decides how many of them an employee is paid for. Most holiday calendars published in
Malaysia only cover the first, which is why employers routinely pay for the wrong days.

## The Employment Act rule

Section 60D(1) entitles every employee to a paid holiday at the ordinary rate of pay on:

- **eleven of the gazetted public holidays**, five of which are fixed by the Act
- **any day appointed** as a public holiday for that year under s.8 of the Holidays Act
  1951

The five compulsory ones under s.60D(1)(a):

| # | Holiday |
| --- | --- |
| 1 | National Day |
| 2 | Birthday of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong |
| 3 | Birthday of the Ruler or Yang di-Pertua Negeri of the State in which the employee wholly or mainly works — or **Federal Territory Day** for employees working in the Federal Territory |
| 4 | Workers' Day |
| 5 | Malaysia Day |

The employer chooses the **remaining six**, and s.60D(1A) requires a notice specifying
them to be exhibited conspicuously at the place of employment **before the calendar year
begins**. Other days may be substituted for any of the six by agreement.

**Substitution.** Where a holiday under (a) or (b) falls on a rest day or on another
public holiday, the working day immediately following becomes the paid holiday instead.
Where it falls during sick leave, annual leave or a period of temporary disablement,
s.60D(1B) requires another day to be granted in substitution.

**Working on a holiday.** Section 60D(3)(a) requires **two days' wages at the ordinary
rate**, in addition to the holiday pay, *regardless that the period of work done on that
day is less than the normal hours of work*. Excess hours attract not less than three
times the hourly rate under s.60D(3)(aa). Those rate provisions are disapplied above
RM4,000 a month by First Schedule paragraph 1A — the **entitlement to the paid holiday
under s.60D(1) is not**.

## The Holidays Act structure

| Layer | Instrument | Who declares |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Statutory list | First Schedule, s.3 | Parliament |
| Additional or substituted days | s.8 | the Minister, after consultation with the State Authority where a State is concerned |
| State public holidays | s.9(1) | the State Authority |
| Federal Territory public holidays | s.9(2) | the Minister |

The First Schedule already varies by state on its face: **Chinese New Year is one day in
Kelantan and Terengganu and two days in the other States**, and **Hari Raya Haji is two
days in Kelantan and Terengganu and one day in the other States**. Any calendar that
treats the statutory list as uniform is wrong before the State Authorities have declared
anything.

## Federal public holidays 2026

Fifteen days across twelve holidays, per the Cabinet Division schedule. Days marked with
an asterisk are stated in the source as subject to change.

| Holiday | Date | Day |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Chinese New Year | 17 February 2026 | Tuesday |
| Chinese New Year (second day) | 18 February 2026 | Wednesday |
| Hari Raya Puasa * | 21 March 2026 | Saturday |
| Hari Raya Puasa (second day) * | 22 March 2026 | Sunday |
| Hari Pekerja / Workers' Day | 1 May 2026 | Friday |
| Hari Raya Qurban * | 27 May 2026 | Wednesday |
| Hari Raya Qurban (second day) * | 28 May 2026 | Thursday |
| Hari Wesak | 31 May 2026 | Sunday |
| Official Birthday of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong | 1 June 2026 | Monday |
| Awal Muharam / Maal Hijrah | 17 June 2026 | Wednesday |
| Maulidur Rasul | 25 August 2026 | Tuesday |
| Hari Kebangsaan / National Day | 31 August 2026 | Monday |
| Hari Malaysia / Malaysia Day | 16 September 2026 | Wednesday |
| Deepavali * | 8 November 2026 | Sunday |
| Christmas Day | 25 December 2026 | Friday |

Note that **Hari Wesak and Deepavali both fall on a Sunday in 2026**, and Hari Raya Puasa
second day falls on a Sunday. Where Sunday is the employee's rest day, the substitution
proviso to s.60D(1) moves the paid holiday to the following working day.

## State-level holidays 2026

These are the days appearing in the Cabinet Division's state schedule for 2026. **Which
states observe each one is not reproduced here**: the applicability columns in the source
PDF are graphical and do not extract reliably, and publishing a state matrix from a
misread table would be worse than publishing none. Read applicability off the source
document or the relevant State gazette. Where the holiday names a State or a Ruler, the
State is self-evident.

| Holiday | 2026 date |
| --- | --- |
| New Year's Day | 1 January |
| Birthday of the Yang di-Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan | 14 January |
| Israk and Mikraj | 17 January |
| Thaipusam | 1 February |
| Federal Territory Day | 1 February |
| Chinese New Year (second day) | 18 February |
| Awal Ramadan * | 19 February |
| Declaration of Independence Day | 20 February |
| Anniversary of the Installation of the Sultan of Terengganu | 4 March |
| Nuzul Al-Quran | 7 March |
| Birthday of the Sultan of Johor | 23 March |
| Hari Raya Puasa (third day) | 23 March |
| Birthday of the Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sabah | 30 March |
| Good Friday | 3 April |
| Birthday of the Sultan of Terengganu | 26 April |
| Anniversary of the Birthday of the Raja of Perlis | 17 May |
| Hari Hol Almarhum Sultan Ahmad Shah | 22 May |
| Hari Arafah | 26 May |
| Hari Raya Qurban (second day) * | 28 May |
| Pesta Kaamatan | 30 and 31 May |
| Hari Gawai Dayak | 1 and 2 June |
| Birthday of the Sultan of Kedah | 21 June |
| Anniversary of the Declaration of the World Heritage Site | 7 July |
| Birthday of the Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Pulau Pinang | 11 July |
| Hari Hol Almarhum Sultan Iskandar | 21 July |
| Sarawak Independence Day | 22 July |
| Birthday of the Sultan of Pahang | 31 July |
| Birthday of the Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Melaka | 24 August |
| Birthday of the Sultan of Kelantan | 29 and 30 September |
| Birthday of the Yang di-Pertua Negeri of Sarawak | 10 October |
| Birthday of the Sultan of Perak | 6 November |
| Birthday of the Sultan of Selangor | 11 December |
| Christmas Eve | 24 December |

## Common mistakes

**Paying for every gazetted holiday in the state and calling it compliance.** The Act
requires eleven plus s.8 appointments, and the employer must nominate and display the
six discretionary ones.

**Skipping the s.60D(1A) notice.** It has to go up **before** the calendar year starts.

**Prorating holiday work.** Section 60D(3)(a) is explicit that two days' wages are due
even where the work was less than normal hours.

**Using head-office holidays for staff in another state.** The Ruler's birthday follows
the State where the employee wholly or mainly works.

**Treating the federal list as fixed.** Five of the 2026 federal dates are flagged in the
source as subject to change, and Islamic dates in particular move on sighting.

**Assuming the Kelantan and Terengganu variations are informal.** They are in the First
Schedule to the Holidays Act itself.

## What's next

Publish your s.60D(1A) notice for next year before 31 December, naming the six
discretionary holidays, and confirm each employee's contractual place of work so the
Ruler's-birthday limb resolves cleanly. For the rest of the leave picture see
[leave entitlements](/en/employment/leave-entitlements-malaysia).

## Sources

- Jadual Hari Kelepasan Am Persekutuan dan Negeri 2026 — https://www.kabinet.gov.my/storage/2025/08/HKA-2026.pdf (Bahagian Kabinet, Perlembagaan dan Perhubungan Antara Kerajaan, Jabatan Perdana Menteri)
- Holidays Act 1951 (Act 369), updated text — https://lom.agc.gov.my/ilims/upload/portal/akta/LOM/EN/Act%20369%20-%20Holiday%20Act%201951.pdf (Attorney General's Chambers)
- Employment Act 1955 (Act 265), updated text as at 1 January 2023 — https://jtksm.mohr.gov.my/sites/default/files/2023-11/Akta%20Kerja%201955%20(Akta%20265)_0.pdf (Jabatan Tenaga Kerja Semenanjung Malaysia)

---
Source of truth: https://github.com/negaraku-md/NegaraKu.md
License: CC BY-SA 4.0