What counts as an urgent situation when applying for emergency leave in Malaysia

The Public Service Department of Malaysia has reminded that all civil servants must apply for the leave before commencing it, to avoid any potential service difficulties.

Many of us are bound to encounter emergency situations that leave you scrambling to apply for leave.

Malaysia's Public Service Department (Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam, or JPA) shared in a Facebook post on what is permissible to apply for an emergency leave. 

According to the post, the application can fall under two categories: General and Personal emergency. 

General

A general emergency can be considered during disasters such as:

• floods
• earthquakes
• bridge collapse, or other natural disasters, or curfews and general restriction orders issued by the authorities. 

In the case of a general emergency, here are some steps heads of departments should take note of when granting permission to your employees: 

1. An emergency in relation to natural disasters, floods, landslides, bridge collapse, other disasters or general restriction orders by the authorities occurs.
2. Employees are unable to travel to office or their regular place of work. 
3. The head of department can obtain confirmation of the incident from the following platforms to consider the officer's granted permission certificate:

• District Office, or Penghulu
• police officers,
• the Malaysian Information Department,
• Social Welfare Department, or 
• Mass media broadcast. 

Personal

A personal emergency occurs when a disaster or accident happens to an officer or to their property. The incident is considered a personal emergency if the officer has to take a leave of absence from work. 

Should this be the case, the officer must request permission from his department head to get leave. 

Should employees apply for leave as an emergency, heads of department can consider the following:

1. Disaster cases and personal accidents or involving an officer's property are not included in the general emergency term.
2. This will not affect the employee's leave eligibility and the officer does not need to submit a leave application during the period of absence from work.

JPA has also stated that the head of departments are authorised to permit officers under their respective control not to report to office due to an emergency incident that causes an obstruction of travel to the workplace.

In addition to that, the Department has reminded that all civil servants must apply for the leave before commencing it, to avoid any potential service difficulties while they are away.

READ MORE: Know the difference: Medical leaves, annual leaves, and absence for general emergency reasons in Malaysia

Lead image / JPA Facebook