A screenshot of a job offer letter shared on Threads has drawn criticism from Malaysians for several of its conditions, most of all a clause that says Muslim employees would lose an hour of pay every Friday to attend prayers.
Under a section titled “Muslim Worker”, the letter reads: “Every Friday will deduct 1 hours of salary for praying purpose.”
The company’s identity is not shown in the excerpt.
A reminder to read before signing
The Threads user who posted the screenshot used it to remind jobseekers to read every detail of an offer before accepting, suggesting that the terms in a letter can already say a lot about how a company is managed. The clause on Friday prayers drew the most attention, but it was not the only thing that stood out.
The letter lists working hours as 8.29am to 5.30pm from Monday to Friday and 8.29am to 12.30pm on Saturdays, and states that late attendance and absenteeism would attract a RM5 penalty per occurrence.
The wording of that section also left readers puzzled, using “find” instead of “fine” and ending with a line saying anything “3 times above shall be glanded” without explaining what that means. Several commenters joked about the spelling and the oddly precise 8.29am start time.
The clause that caught attention
Most of the criticism centred on the prayer clause, with commenters calling it a red flag that even attending Friday prayers would cost an employee part of their salary, while one who identified as non-Muslim agreed it was a worrying condition for any worker. Others said they could cope with a workplace that had no prayer room, but that docking pay for praying went too far. Some urged that the matter be reported to the Labour Department.
What the rules say
The Employment Act 1955 only allows wage deductions in specific, limited situations, and employers who make unauthorised deductions risk action from the Labour Department.
On prayer time itself, the position is more nuanced than the online anger suggests. The Peninsular Malaysia Labour Department recommends a minimum of 1.5 hours for male Muslim employees on Fridays, but law firm Donaldson & Burkinshaw notes that it is not a legal requirement to provide longer lunch breaks for this purpose. That gap is why disputes like this often turn on what the employment contract says.
In 2024, Malay Mail reported an official urging Muslim workers in Johor to report to the Labour Department any employer who prevents them from performing Friday prayers or makes it difficult for them to do so during working hours.
How other workplaces handle it
The post also prompted people to describe how their own employers handle prayer time. One commenter said their company had provided a surau and would wait if an employee they needed was at prayer, with Muslim male staff given a two-hour break on Fridays, and that the employer’s flexibility made staff want to be considerate in return. Another said their workplace allowed a three-hour Friday prayer break with no salary deduction.
The screenshot covers only part of an offer letter and does not establish that the deductions were ever applied to any employee. What it did do is get people talking about something many jobseekers only notice after they have signed. If a clause about your faith can reduce your pay, it is better to ask about it before you accept the job than after the first payslip.
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Read also: ‘I gave up my family to pursue my dreams’ Shares 34 YO M’sian woman – In Real Life
https://inreallife.my/i-gave-up-my-family-to-pursue-my-dreams-shares-34-yo-msian-woman/
‘I gave up my family to pursue my dreams’ Shares 34 YO M’sian woman
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