Employment Act 1968 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 3 · Payment of Salary
23. Payment on termination by employee
Feedback & supportIn plain English
An employee who resigns with due notice must be paid all salary due on the last day. An employee who resigns without the required notice, or before it ends, must be paid by the 7th day after leaving. The employer may deduct what the employee owes in place of notice, unless ordered otherwise.
Summary · Drafted with AI, checked against the official text on 30 Sep 2026.
Subject to the provisions of this Act, the total salary due to an employee who terminates his or her contract of service with his or her employer under section 11, or after giving due notice to the employer as required under section 10, must be paid to the employee on the day on which the contract of service is terminated.
salary
“salary” means all remuneration including allowances payable to an employee in respect of work done under his or her contract of service, but does not include —(a)the value of any house accommodation, supply of electricity, water, medical attendance, or other amenity, or of any service excluded by general or special order of the Minister published in the Gazette;(b)any contribution paid by the employer on his or her own account to any pension fund or provident fund;(c)any travelling allowance or the value of any travelling concession;(d)any sum paid to the employee to reimburse him or her for special expenses incurred by him or her in the course of his or her employment;(e)any gratuity payable on discharge or retirement; and(f)any retrenchment benefit payable on retrenchment;
Subject to the provisions of this Act, the total salary due to an employee who terminates his or her contract of service without giving prior notice to his or her employer as required under section 10, or, if notice has already been given under that section, but the employee terminates his or her contract of service without waiting for the expiry of the notice, must be paid to the employee before the expiry of the 7th day after the day on which the employee terminates his or her contract of service.
employee
“employee” means a person who has entered into or works under a contract of service with an employer and includes a workman, and any officer or employee of the Government included in a category, class or description of such officers or employees declared by the President to be employees for the purposes of this Act or any provision thereof, but does not include any of the following:(a)any seafarer;(b)any domestic worker;(c) (d)any person belonging to any other class of persons whom the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, declare not to be employees for the purposes of this Act;
The employer may, subject to any order made by a court or the Commissioner to the contrary, deduct from the salary due to the employee such sum as the employee is liable to pay in lieu of prior notice under section 11(1).
employer
“employer” means any person who employs another person under a contract of service and includes —(a)the Government in respect of such categories, classes or descriptions of officers or employees of the Government as are declared by the President to be employees for the purposes of this Act;(b)any statutory authority;(c)the duly authorised agent or manager of the employer; and(d)the person who owns or is carrying on or for the time being responsible for the management of the profession, business, trade or work in which the employee is engaged;