Government servants can take five years’ unpaid maternity leave

By JANE RITIKOS

KUALA LUMPUR: Women civil servants can now opt to take a total of five years' unpaid leave to look after their children.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, who announced this after opening the 12th Civil Service Conference here yesterday, said the Cabinet approved this last week.
“The current leave is 90 days (for each child) but some may decide that their priority in life is to take care of the children, so this will allow them (to do so),” he said.
While it is generally viewed as a nice gesture, several people interviewed were cautious about the move, saying that it might not be practical to leave work for longer than needed.
At present, women civil servants can take maternity leave of 60 days with full pay five times during their tenure of employment.
After the 60 days, they can opt for 90 days' unpaid leave to look after their child.
The unpaid leave must start on the 61st day and any portion of the 90 days not used is automatically forfeited.
Najib said Public Service Department director-general Tan Sri Ismail Adam was expected to sign the circular in the next couple of days.
“The leave can be broken up, which means they can take one or two years for the first child, and another one or two years for the next child, but not exceeding five years,” Najib said.
He said those who opted for the five years' leave would get three “notional increments,” so they would only lose out on two increments.
“The three notional increments will be given within the five years as an increment to the salary they were getting before they took the long leave.
“For example, if the notional increment is RM50 for a certain post, at the end of the five years, they would receive RM150 on top of their salary once they return to work,” he said.
Najib said the maximum of five years was decided upon because longer absence from work would affect the civil servants' competency level and manpower planning.
“We want to provide this flexibility for women in the civil service who want to give more attention to the care of their children.
“This is in line with the Government’s objective to ensure that attention is given to children's early education because with proper guidance, nurturing and love, the children will become better people,” he said.