REGULATING ATYPICAL EMPLOYMENT IN THE MALAYSIAN PRIVATE SECTOR: BALANCING FLEXIBILITY AND SECURITY

Atypical employment is a new breed of employment manifested by flexible and precarious work arrangements like part-time work and fixed-term contracts. Atypical employment provides the elasticity required by modern organisation to respond quickly to market demands without compromising their competiveness and productivity. Despite providing such flexibility, atypical employments are often said to erode workers’ rights, robbing them of job security and social security enjoyed by the regular permanent employees. Nevertheless, atypical employment continues to be an important facet of modern workforce and stakeholders in the labour market have been urged to recognise and accommodate these non-standard works within the regular labour laws framework to provide better protection to the workers. This paper investigates the incidence of fixed-term employment contracts and part-time work among private companies in the Klang Valley and examines the issues and legal problems facing the workers in connection to their work. Subsequently through such analysis, several legislative measures and recommendations are put forward so that the many advantages conferred by atypical employment may be reaped without sacrificing the protection and security that should be enjoyed by all workers in this country