Employment Act 1968 · 2020 Revised Edition · Part 3 · Payment of Salary
32. Deductions not to exceed prescribed limit
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Apart from some specified deductions, an employer's total deductions from an employee's salary in any one salary period must not exceed 50%, or another percentage the minister prescribes instead, of the salary payable for that period. This limit does not apply to deductions from the last salary due when a contract of service is terminated or completed.
Summary · Drafted with AI, checked against the official text on 30 Sep 2026.
Last amended by an amending law of 2013.
The total amount of all deductions made from an employee’s salary by an employer in any one salary period, other than deductions under section 27(1)(a), (f) or (j), must not exceed 50% (or such other percentage prescribed in substitution by the Minister) of the salary payable to the employee in respect of that period.
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;
Subsection (1) does not apply to deductions made from the last salary due to an employee on termination of his or her contract of service or on completion of his or her contract of service.
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;