INFORMAL EMPLOYEE: THEIR IMPORTANCE AND PROTECTION UNDER MALAYSIAN LABOUR LAWS
This paper aims to address the issue of informal employees in Malaysia. The informal employee is the employee that works for wages in an informal and/ or formal employment setting. Most informal employees have no formal contracts, social benefits, and basic employment legal protection as enjoyed by formal employees. It is important that we identify and address the issues of informal employment as there seems to be an increasing trend towards this kind of employment in the current market economy. The methodology that will be adopted in conducting this study would be a qualitative analysis of all local labour legislations that will provide an insight into the social and legal protection afforded to these informal employees. The findings/ results so far show that none of the local labour legislation provides nor addresses specifically the issues of social and legal protection for the informal employee. We hope to recommend through this paper either specific legislation is created to address the social and legal protection for the informal employee or to propose amendments to the current local labour legislation to incorporate the informal employee in their protection.