STAR PUBLICATIONS (M) BERHAD
NATIONAL UNION OF JOURNALISTS MALAYSIA AGREEMENT OF 2001
(continued)

CLAUSE 24 - ANNUAL LEAVE
(i) Subject to the provisions hereof, every employee shall be entitled:

(a) if he has less than 2 years’ continuous employment, to 14 working days;
(b) if he has 2 to 4 years’ continuous employment, to 18 working days;
(c) if he has more than 4 years’ and up to 6 years’ continuous employment, to 24 working days;
(d) if he has more than 6 years’ and up to 12 years’ continuous employment, to 26 working days; and
(e) if he has more than 12 years’ continuous employment, to 28 working days;

annual leave on full salary for the immediately preceding twelve months’ continuous employment with the Company.

(ii) The Company shall grant and the employee shall take such annual leave not later than twelve months after the end of every twelve months’ continuous employment and any employee who shall have failed to take such annual leave at the end of such period shall thereupon be deemed to have waived his entitlement thereto, provided that annual leave not taken by the said period may be carried forward to the following year with the written permission of the Company.

(iii) Every employee may take at least five (5) working days of his annual leave in one continuous period. In the absence of exceptional reasons, an employee must apply to take annual leave at least five clear working days before the commencement of each period of annual leave for which he applies. In the event that where an employee fails to apply within the requisite notice, he must give acceptable reason(s) for that short notice.

(iv) The grant of annual leave is always subject to the exigencies of the Company’s business.

(v) The Company may re-roster an individual employee for the purpose of substituting for another employee who goes on annual leave or on compassionate leave. Such re-rostering may take place at short notice for the purpose of substituting for another employee who is granted leave at short notice.

(vi) In the event that an employee’s employment with the Company is terminated before the completion of the period of twelve months’ continuous employment as specified in sub-clause (i) above, he shall be entitled to annual leave on full salary proportionate to the portion of the said period for which he has been employed and he shall be paid in lieu of the grant of any annual leave to which he is entitled under this Clause a sum equivalent to the full salary for the period of the annual leave he has not taken and to which he is so entitled at the date his employment with the Company is terminated.

(vii) For the purpose of this Clause, “working day” shall mean a day other than a weekly rest day or a Public Holiday to which an employee is entitled hereunder. A day enjoyed as a half-day holiday shall count as a half working day.

(viii) Subject to the provisions hereof, the choice of dates on which an employee may take this leave shall be within the discretion of the Company but where possible, shall be chosen with regard to the employee’s convenience.

CLAUSE 25 - COMPASSIONATE LEAVE
(i) An employee shall be granted compassionate leave on full salary for periods in aggregate not exceeding nine (9) days in each calendar year on the occurrence of and for the purpose of attending to unforeseen domestic emergencies requiring his personal attendance during his normal periods of duty. Without prejudice to the generality of this sub-clause, the death of a member of the employee’s family, and the sudden sickness or confinement of the employee’s wife in such circumstances that the employee’s children are left without necessary attendance, shall be deemed to be unforeseen domestic emergencies requiring the employee’s personal attendance.

(ii) The number of days compassionate leave granted on any one period shall be within the discretion of the Company but shall not exceed nine (9) days as aforesaid.

(iii) Compassionate leave may not be accumulated from year to year.

(iv) For the purpose of this Clause, an employee’s family shall mean spouse, child, father, mother, brother, sister, father-in-law, mother-in-law, grandfather and grandmother.

(v) An employee may be granted compassionate leave under the provisions of this Clause on the death or serious illness (hospitalisation in all cases) of his brother or sister. Such leave shall be taken but an employee shall produce documentary evidence acceptable to the Company within a reasonable period of time.

CLAUSE 26 - MEDICAL BENEFITS
(i) Except as otherwise provided herein, every employee shall in the event of his injury or sickness, be entitled, at the expense of the Company, to the following medical benefits as necessary:-

(a) consultation with the Company’s doctor (who shall be a registered medical practitioner or firm of such practitioners appointed by the Company) and with such other qualified person, including a registered dental practitioner, as the Company’s doctor may advise;

(b) treatment including treatment in a Second Class Ward in a Government hospital and medicines as may be prescribed by the Company’s doctor or such other qualified person;

(c) hospital accommodation for a period not exceeding in the aggregate thirty-six (36) days in each year in a Second Class Ward in a Government hospital while he is on sick leave on full salary as may be prescribed by the Company’s doctor or such other qualified person as recommended by the Company’s doctor;

(d) sick leave on full salary for period not exceeding in the aggregate:-

(1) twenty-four (24) days in each year if no hospitalisation is necessary, or
(2) sixty (60) days in each year if hospitalisation is necessary,

as may be prescribed by the Company’s doctor;

PROVIDED that if an employee is hospitalised for thirty-six (36) days or less in one year, his entitlement to sick leave on full salary for that year shall not exceed the aggregate of twenty-four (24) days plus the number of days on which he is hospitalised;

AND PROVIDED further that if an employee is certified by a medical practitioner or the Company’s doctor or medical officer to be ill enough to need to be hospitalised but is not hospitalised for any reason whatsoever, the employee shall be deemed to be hospitalised for the purpose of this Clause.

(ii) In the event of an emergency, any nearby registered medical practitioner may, when the Company’s doctor is not available, act in place of the Company’s doctor for the purposes mentioned in paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of sub-clause (i) of this Clause;

PROVIDED that as soon as the Company’s doctor becomes available, an employee shall immediately inform him or cause him to be informed of any medical benefit received from the registered medical practitioner under this sub-clause and shall, at the earliest opportunity, present himself to the Company’s doctor for medical examination.

(iii) The Company shall not be liable to bear any expenses incurred in respect of:

(a) injury or sickness which is self-inflicted or caused or aggravated by misconduct, deliberate act, neglect, intentional exposure to hazardous activity or the excessive use of alcohol or drugs
(b) appliances including medical and surgical appliances, spectacles (other than the provisions contained in Clause 44 (ii)), dentures and artificial limbs.

(iv) The word “neglect” in sub-clause (iii) (a) is to be given its usual legal connotation. By way of example, where an employee neglects to follow the advice of the Company’s doctor or neglects to use the prescribed safety device, he will be held to have been neglectful within the meaning of Clause 26 (iii)(a).

(v) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-clause (iii) (a) of this Clause, the Company shall provide free medical attention to employees who are on Company’s assignments to cover any hazardous events.

(vi) The provisions of this Clause shall not apply to an employee whose physical fitness has been the subject of an unfavourable prognosis by the Company’s doctor and to the extent agreed as a condition of his employment between the Company and such employees.

CLAUSE 27 - MARRIAGE LEAVE
An employee who is confirmed in his employment shall be entitled to five days marriage leave on full salary on the occasion of his first legal marriage.

CLAUSE 28 - MATERNITY LEAVE
Maternity leave and maternity benefits shall be in accordance with the provisions of Part IX of the Employment Act, 1955.

CLAUSE 29 - PROLONGED ILLNESS LEAVE
(i) Every employee who has not less than one (1) year’s continuous employment with the Company shall be entitled, in the event that he suffers an illness, and on the condition that, in the opinion of any specialist in such illness to whom he is referred by the Company’s doctor, has ample chance of recovery, to prolonged illness leave as may be certified to be necessary by the Company’s doctor or by such specialist.

(ii) Prolonged illness leave shall not exceed twelve (12) months; the first six (6) months being on full salary, the second three (3) months on half salary and the third three (3) months on quarter salary.

(iii) The provisions of Clause 26 hereof and, save as is otherwise provided by Part IX of the Employment Act, 1955, the provisions of Clause 26 hereof shall not apply to an employee while he is on prolonged illness leave.

(iv) The provisions of this Clause shall apply to an employee who suffers from an injury which is not self-inflicted and, which in the opinion of any specialist to whom he is referred by the Company’s doctor has ample chance of recovery.