# Employment Act 1955 (Act 265)

> Statute entity page for Malaysia's principal employment statute — what Act 265 governs, who administers it, its amendment history, and the articles that explain each duty in practice.

- Category: law
- Language: en
- Status: published
- Updated: 2026-07-20
- Canonical: https://negaraku.md/en/law/employment-act-1955

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This page is the statute record for Act 265 — its identity, administration and
amendment chain. It deliberately does not restate the entitlements. Those are set
out, with section numbers and current figures, in the
[Employment Act 1955 guide](/en/employment/employment-act-1955-guide).

## At a glance

| | |
| --- | --- |
| Short title | Employment Act 1955 |
| Act number | Act 265 |
| Type | Act of Parliament (revised edition 1982) |
| Royal assent | 4 June 1955 |
| Publication | 27 June 1955 |
| Commencement | 1 June 1957 |
| Territorial extent | Peninsular Malaysia and the Federal Territory of Labuan |
| Administered by | Jabatan Tenaga Kerja Semenanjung Malaysia (JTKSM), Ministry of Human Resources |
| Current reprint | 1 August 2023 |

## What the Act governs

Act 265 fixes the statutory minimum terms of a contract of service. Its subject
matter runs to contracts of service and their termination, payment of wages and
lawful deductions, hours of work and overtime, rest days, public holidays, annual
and sick leave, maternity and paternity protection, the employment of women, the
employment of foreign employees, records and inspection, and the machinery for
labour complaints before the Director General of Labour.

A contractual term less favourable than the Act is void to the extent of the
shortfall. The Act is a floor, not a ceiling — an employer may always offer better,
and most collective agreements do.

## Who administers it

Enforcement sits with **Jabatan Tenaga Kerja Semenanjung Malaysia** under the
Ministry of Human Resources. JTKSM registers complaints, conducts inspections and
brings prosecutions; the Director General of Labour exercises the adjudicative and
approval powers the Act confers, including approval to employ a foreign employee.

Note the naming trap: **`kesuma.gov.my` does not resolve.** The canonical ministry
domain is `mohr.gov.my`, and the department sits at `jtksm.mohr.gov.my`.

## Amendment history

Act 265 has been amended more than twenty times since 1955. The entries that matter
for reading the Act today:

| Instrument | Effect | Date |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Act 265 (principal) | Enacted | In force 1 June 1957 |
| Original edition | Pre-revision text | 28 January 1982 |
| Revised edition | Consolidated as Act 265 | **18 February 1982** |
| Reprints | 1975 · 2001 · 2006 · 2012 | — |
| **Employment (Amendment) Act 2022 (Act A1651)** | **The major modern rewrite — coverage, hours, leave, flexible working, forced-labour offence** | **Published 10 May 2022; in force 1 January 2023** |
| P.U.(A) 262/2022 | Employment (Amendment of First Schedule) Order 2022 | 15 August 2022 |
| P.U.(A) 273/2022 | Amends P.U.(A) 262/2022 | 30 August 2022 |
| P.U.(A) 257/2023 | Employment (Exemption) (Revocation) Order 2023 — revokes P.U.(A) 240/2016 | 29 August 2023 |
| Reprint | Current consolidated text | 1 August 2023 |

**The commencement date is the trap.** Act A1651 carries a publication date of
10 May 2022, and a great deal of published commentary treats that as the date the
new rules began. It is not. Commencement was appointed for **1 January 2023**, and
AGC's own timeline for Act 265 records a reprint at that date. Anything describing
the 2022 amendments as operative during 2022 is describing law that had not yet
started.

The second trap is scope. What the Act covers is set by its **First Schedule**,
amended by ministerial order rather than by the Act itself — so the coverage
question is answered by P.U.(A) 262/2022 as amended by P.U.(A) 273/2022, not by the
section text alone.

## Where the practical rules live

| Topic | Article |
| --- | --- |
| The Act explained end to end | [Employment Act 1955 guide](/en/employment/employment-act-1955-guide) |
| Who is covered | [Employment Act coverage](/en/employment/employment-act-coverage) |
| Contracts | [Employment contract](/en/employment/employment-contract-malaysia) |
| Hours and overtime | [Working hours and overtime](/en/employment/working-hours-overtime-malaysia) |
| Leave | [Leave entitlements](/en/employment/leave-entitlements-malaysia) |
| Termination | [Termination of employment](/en/employment/termination-of-employment-malaysia) |
| Sabah and Sarawak | [Sabah and Sarawak Labour Ordinances](/en/employment/sabah-sarawak-labour-ordinance) |

## Sources

- Act 265 — Employment Act 1955, principal Act timeline and amendment history — https://lom.agc.gov.my/act-detail.php?act=265 (Attorney General's Chambers of Malaysia)
- Akta Kerja 1955 (Akta 265) — https://jtksm.mohr.gov.my/sites/default/files/2023-11/Akta%20Kerja%201955%20(Akta%20265)_0.pdf (Jabatan Tenaga Kerja Semenanjung Malaysia)
- Jabatan Tenaga Kerja Semenanjung Malaysia — https://jtksm.mohr.gov.my/index.php/en (JTKSM)
- Ministry of Human Resources Malaysia — https://www.mohr.gov.my/ (MOHR)

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