Anti-Sexual Harassment Act 2022: the Tribunal, employer duties and your workplace policy

What the Anti-Sexual Harassment Act 2022 is

The Anti-Sexual Harassment Act 2022 (Act 840) gives people who have been sexually harassed a route to redress that is faster and cheaper than going to court. It came into force in stages: sections 1, 2, 24, 25 and 26 on 28 March 2023, and the Tribunal for Anti-Sexual Harassment (Tribunal Anti Gangguan Seksual, or TAGS), established under section 3, began operating on 8 March 2024, when the Tribunal regulations came into operation. The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (KPWKM) is responsible for the Act.

The Act defines sexual harassment as any unwanted conduct of a sexual nature, in any form, whether verbal, non-verbal, visual, gestural or physical, directed at a person, which is reasonably offensive or humiliating or is a threat to their well-being.

Unlike the Employment Act, Act 840 is not limited to the workplace or to employer and employee. A complaint can be about a colleague, a client, a supplier’s staff, or someone the complainant has never worked with. That is why it matters to employers: conduct that happens at a work dinner, in a team chat or on a client site can end up at the Tribunal, and the employer may be asked for evidence or witnesses.

The Act creates no new crime of sexual harassment. Filing a Tribunal complaint does not stop anyone from making a police report about related criminal conduct under other laws.

Who can complain, and how

Any individual who has been sexually harassed can file a complaint against the individual who harassed them. A guardian or next friend can file for a minor or a person with a disability. Law firm guidance notes the Tribunal covers incidents from 8 March 2024 onwards, and complaints are subject to the Limitation Act 1953.

The process, set out in the Anti-Sexual Harassment (Tribunal for Anti-Sexual Harassment) Regulations 2024:

1. File Form 1 (the complaint) with a fee of RM30, at the TAGS office or online at etags.kpwkm.gov.my, where fees can also be paid.
2. Serve it. The complainant serves the sealed Form 1 on the respondent within 14 working days of receiving it back.
3. Defence. The respondent files a statement of defence (Form 2) with a fee of RM10 within 14 working days.
4. Hearing. Notice of the hearing is served at least 14 working days ahead. Hearings are held in private. Parties may not be represented by lawyers unless the matter involves complex issues of law, though they can take legal advice on the paperwork.
5. Award. Under section 19(1), the Tribunal must make its award without delay and, where practicable, within 60 days from the first day of the hearing.

An employee does not need to use the employer’s grievance process first, and can go to the Tribunal whatever the internal inquiry found. The same issues, however, cannot be pursued against the same party in both the Tribunal and the civil courts.

Tribunal awards and enforcement

If the complaint is proven, the Tribunal may order the respondent to do one or more of the following:

• issue a statement of apology to the complainant;
• publish the apology, where the harassment happened in public;
• pay compensation or damages of up to RM250,000;
• attend a programme the Tribunal considers necessary.

It may also dismiss a complaint it finds frivolous or vexatious. Awards are final and enforceable as court orders. Failing to comply with an award is an offence under section 21, punishable by a fine of up to twice the compensation awarded, imprisonment of up to two years, or both.

The Tribunal’s first award, announced by KPWKM in July 2024, ordered a male employer to apologise to the complainant. By 7 June 2026, the Tribunal had received 99 complaints and resolved 80 of them within 60 days of the first hearing. In June 2026, the High Court upheld a RM60,000 award in a case about the misuse of private photographs after a relationship ended, the first contested Tribunal ruling to be upheld in court.

How it sits with the Employment Act: employer duties

Act 840 gives the complainant a claim against the harasser. It does not replace the employer’s own duties, which sit in Part XVA of the Employment Act 1955 and, since 1 January 2023, apply to all employees regardless of wage.

So a single incident can run on two tracks: the employer’s internal inquiry under the Employment Act, and the employee’s complaint to the Tribunal under Act 840. Run your inquiry properly regardless, keep records, and expect the Tribunal to ask you to preserve evidence or let witnesses attend. For other 2022 Employment Act changes, see Employment Act amendment 2022.

What a sexual harassment policy should include

Law firm commentary is clear that the Act does not require a written policy, but without one the Employment Act duties are hard to meet consistently. A workable policy covers:

1. A plain definition with workplace examples: comments, jokes, messages and images in chats, staring, unwanted touching, requests for dates linked to work benefits.
2. Scope: employees, interns, contractors, clients and visitors, and settings beyond the office such as site visits, travel, work events and online channels.
3. Several reporting routes, including at least one that bypasses the line manager, and how anonymous concerns are handled.
4. The inquiry procedure: who receives complaints, the 30-day decision on whether to inquire, how the inquiry is run, and how both sides are heard.
5. Interim protection: separating the parties, changing reporting lines or shifts, without disadvantaging the complainant.
6. No retaliation against complainants or witnesses, and what happens if it occurs.
7. Confidentiality and how records are kept, in line with the PDPA.
8. Outcomes: the range of disciplinary action, and support for the complainant.
9. External routes: the Tribunal, the Labour Department and the police, so staff know their options.
10. Training and review: who is trained, how often, and when the policy is reviewed.

Display the section 81H notice where staff will see it, and put the policy in the induction pack.

Manager and bystander duties

Most complaints first reach a line manager, informally. What happens in that first conversation decides whether the employer’s duty to inquire is met.

Managers should:

• treat any report as a possible complaint, even if the person says “I don’t want to make it formal”;
• listen, write down what was said, and pass it to HR the same day;
• not investigate alone, confront the alleged harasser, or judge the report themselves;
• watch for retaliation in rosters, appraisals and team dynamics afterwards.

Bystanders can use the familiar options: interrupt or distract, speak to the person targeted afterwards, report what they saw, or ask a manager to step in. Doing nothing signals that the behaviour is acceptable.

The Anti-Sexual Harassment lesson puts staff in an office, a corridor, a team chat and an HR room to practise these moments, including the employer’s duty to inquire and the Tribunal. Respectful Workplace covers stepping in safely, and How to Raise a Grievance shows the internal route from a quiet word to a written outcome.

Common mistakes employers make

• Waiting for a “formal” complaint. The duty to inquire starts when a complaint is received; a manager who hears it is part of the employer.
• Missing the 30-day reply when deciding not to inquire.
• Letting the line manager investigate a report about their own team, or about themselves.
• Mediation as a substitute for an inquiry, or pressure to settle quietly.
• Moving the complainant instead of the respondent.
• Policy only on paper: no notice displayed, no training, managers unsure what to do.
• Assuming the Tribunal is not your problem because it is between two individuals. Your records, witnesses and response will be examined.