Legal literacy of human resource officers in Malaysia

Abstract

Legal literacy among human resource officers is essential in the course of dealing with employees in any organisation. Lack of legal awareness among human resource officers has led to the failure in protecting the rights of employees at the workplace and has resulted to legal claims being filed against human resource officers and employers. This paper analyses legal literacy of human resource officers in Malaysia in particular on their awareness of the Employment Act 1955. A total number of 6 human resource officers in Malaysia participated in this study. Qualitative study by way of semi-structured interview is conducted and the data is analysed using thematic analysis. Additionally, content analysis is adopted to analyse secondary sources in form of parliamentary statute and court cases. The findings show that legal literacy of human resource officers influence the protection of worker’s rights and benefits at the workplace. It is observed that human resource officers that lacks legal literacy on the Employment Act 1955 tend to disregard worker’s right at the workplace. The study concluded that legal literacy is highly recommended to human resource officer since it can enhance professionalism and ensure fair treatment of workers. This research holds a significant implication as it assists the government in improving the education program on human resource. Apart from that, this research contributes to the society as it gives awareness on the importance of hiring a human resource officers with relevant background. Additionally, this study contributes to the theory of legal literacy in analyzing the legal literacy on the employment law.