Unfair Dismissal in Malaysia: Fired for No Good Reason? You Have 60 Days to Act

Here is the thing nobody tells you on the day you get walked out.

Malaysian law does not give your employer a free right to end your employment just because they gave notice or paid you in lieu. Under s.20 IRA, a workman dismissed without just cause or excuse can ask to be put back in the job. "Just cause or excuse" is deliberately left undefined in the Act, and the Industrial Court decides it case by case — testing both whether the reason was real and serious, and whether the employer behaved fairly in acting on it.

But that protection has a trapdoor, and the trapdoor is the calendar. Sixty days. The Bar Council's own practice materials put it bluntly: the time limit has to be observed strictly, and failure is fatal.

1. Do it today: the filing itself

You are filing a representation for reinstatement under s.20(1). The statutory language matters — you are asking to be reinstated in your former employment. Even if what you actually want is money, reinstatement is the formal request; compensation in lieu comes later as the practical remedy.

Where: the office of the Director General nearest to the place of employment from which you were dismissed. The Act says so expressly.

Who can file: a "workman", whether or not you are a union member. That word does more work than people expect — see section 6 below.

Cost: nothing to file. You may be represented at conciliation by any person of your choice except an advocate and solicitor, with the DGIR's written approval. Yes, that is the actual rule: lawyers are excluded from the conciliation stage, but a friend, a union officer or an HR consultant can attend with you.

What starts the clock: the date of dismissal. Where the dismissal is with notice, it is 60 days from the expiry of the notice period. In one Court of Appeal case, where an employee had been demoted and later terminated, the court held the 60 days ran from the date of the impugned termination, not the earlier unchallenged demotion — which saved the claim.

2. What documents to gather, right now

Do this before you file, but do not let it delay filing past the deadline.

• Your employment contract and any letter of appointment, plus any variations, promotion or transfer letters
• The termination letter — and the envelope or email header showing when you received it
• Payslips for at least the last 12 months (needed to compute back wages)
• The EA form / EPF and SOCSO statements confirming your service period and salary
• Every warning letter, if any, and your written responses to them
• Performance appraisals — especially good ones, which contradict a "poor performance" narrative
• Notes of any meeting where the dismissal was discussed: date, time, who was present, what was said
• Any domestic inquiry (DI) documents — the notice of inquiry, the charges, the minutes, the findings
• WhatsApp, email and Teams messages relevant to the reason given — screenshot with visible timestamps and sender
• Your resignation letter, if you resigned (this changes everything — see section 5)

A practical warning about access. Company email and internal systems get cut off on the day. If you still have access and there are documents you are legitimately entitled to — your own payslips, your own appraisals, your own contract — get copies now. Do not take confidential company data that is not yours; that creates a fresh problem and hands your employer a counter-narrative.

3. What happens after you file

The 2021 change is genuinely significant for employees. Before it, the Minister of Human Resources could decline to refer a case he considered frivolous — meaning a claim could die without ever being heard. That discretion is gone. If conciliation fails, your case goes to the Industrial Court.

The appeal change cuts both ways. The old route was judicial review, with roughly three months to file. Now it is a statutory appeal with 14 days. Faster, but if you lose and want to challenge it, you have very little time.

4. What you can realistically get

Reinstatement is the primary statutory remedy. In practice it is rarely ordered and often not wanted — the relationship is usually beyond repair.

Compensation in lieu of reinstatement is the common outcome, conventionally calculated at a month's pay per year of service, plus:

Back wages, capped by the Second Schedule at:

Two honest caveats on the numbers.

First, back wages can be reduced for post-dismissal earnings and for contributory conduct. If you found another job quickly, that is taken into account. The cap is a ceiling, not an entitlement.

Second, the sums are not life-changing for most claimants. Look at the aggregate data. Reported figures for Q3 2025 show the Industrial Court decided 119 unlawful dismissal cases and awarded around RM8.5 million — which averages roughly RM71,000 per decided case, across a spread that includes senior executives with long service at the top end. Another report put employer payouts at close to RM17 million in Q1 2025. Historically, in 2016 the total across all awards was about RM21.8 million, of which RM9.5 million was back wages and RM2.8 million compensation in lieu.

Set your expectations against those numbers, not against a headline award you read about.

5. If you resigned — constructive dismissal, and why it is risky

If your employer made your position intolerable and you resigned, you may still have a claim. Constructive dismissal is treated as a dismissal for s.20 purposes: same 60-day deadline, same process.

Situations that have been argued as constructive dismissal include unilateral reduction of salary or benefits, demotion without justification, fundamental change to duties, and conduct effectively forcing the employee to resign.

But understand the risk clearly before you resign. The Court will examine whether you were driven out by the employer's conduct, or whether you simply abandoned your employment on your own volition. If it finds the latter, you have no claim and no job.

If you are still employed and being squeezed:

• Get advice before resigning, not after.
• Put your objection in writing at the time — a contemporaneous letter protesting a pay cut or demotion is worth more than a recollection later.
• Do not delay. Staying on for months under the changed terms can be read as acceptance of them.
• If you must resign, do not write a warm resignation letter. State plainly that you are treating the employer's conduct as a repudiation of the contract and leaving because of it. Do not write "for personal reasons", do not write "to pursue other opportunities", and do not thank them for a wonderful experience. Those letters get produced in evidence.

6. Two things that can defeat you before the merits

Are you a "workman"? Section 20 protects a workman. The DGIR now decides whether an employee is employed in a managerial, executive, confidential or security capacity — a question that affects union-related rights and can be contested. Senior employees sometimes find their status argued over. Do not assume seniority excludes you; do assume it may be raised.

Was there a genuine dismissal at all? Where you resigned, took a mutual separation package, or accepted a settlement with a release, the employer will argue there was no dismissal to complain about. Signing a full and final settlement generally ends the claim.

On domestic inquiries — a point that surprises many employees. In Mohd Dzulkarnain Bin Shaharud-Din v TM Technology Services Sdn Bhd (Award No. 245 of 2026), the Industrial Court reaffirmed that an employer is not bound by the findings of a domestic inquiry panel, even where the panel found the employee not guilty. The DI is a fact-finding mechanism; its findings are not final or binding on the employer. So "the inquiry cleared me" is not, by itself, the end of the argument — though the Court will still scrutinise whether the eventual dismissal was fair.

7. Where this is genuinely uncertain

"Just cause or excuse" has no statutory definition. It is decided case by case. Anyone who tells you confidently that your specific facts will or will not succeed, without seeing the documents, is guessing.

Outcomes are not uniform. DOSM's study of 53,024 cases over 2019–2023 found the Industrial Court resolved 86.94% of dismissal cases — but "resolved" means disposed of, not won by employees. That figure tells you the court clears its docket; it tells you nothing about your odds.

Timelines are long. Conciliation, referral, hearing and award can take a considerable period, and an appeal adds more. Anyone budgeting on a quick payout should reconsider.

What to actually do

In the first 7 days:

• Diarise your 60-day deadline. Write the actual date on your phone calendar with two reminders.
• Gather the documents in section 2.
• Write a plain factual chronology while it is fresh: dates, meetings, who said what.
• File the s.20 representation at the nearest JPP office. Do not wait for anything else.

Before you sign anything the company offers:

• A settlement with a full-and-final release usually ends your right to claim. Read it, and get advice on the number before signing.
• Do not sign a document characterising the exit as a resignation if it was not one.

Free and low-cost help:

• Jabatan Perhubungan Perusahaan (JPP) — where you file; officers can explain the process. jpp.mohr.gov.my
• Ministry of Human Resources enquiry line: 1-800-88-6800
• Your trade union, if you have one — union officers handle these routinely
• At conciliation you may be represented by any person of your choice except a lawyer, with DGIR approval
• Bar Council Legal Aid Centres — malaysianbar.org.my — for advice on the Industrial Court stage, where lawyers can appear

If you are struggling with the loss: losing a job suddenly is a genuine shock, financially and otherwise. If it is affecting your sleep, health or state of mind, Talian HEAL 15555 (8am–midnight) and Befrienders KL 03-7627 2929 (24h) are there.