Personal data protection in employment: New legal challenges for Malaysia

The purpose of this article is to discuss and apply data protection principles in the context of employment. The Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA), passed by the Malaysian Parliament in 2010, has affected many aspects of life in Malaysia, including employment. Storage of data by employers is rampant. Management, as the data user, is duty bound to safeguard the employees' data according to the PDPA. Likewise, the employees, as data subjects, enjoy some rights under the PDPA. The author also examines issues of privacy law: whether such law exists in Malaysia and, if so, whether it can be reconciled with the PDPA's principles. The author adopts legal methodology anchored in exploratory analysis, with the legislative text as the main reference point.