REFORMING SOCIAL SECURITY PROTECTION FOR PLATFORM WORKERS IN MALAYSIA’S DIGITAL LABOUR PLATFORMS

Digital labour platforms in Malaysia have seen rapid growth, providing flexible employment options for workers across sectors. However, platform workers lack social security protection while performing their work due to their informal employment status. The current study explores the existing regulatory framework for social security protection in Malaysia and the issues faced by platform workers. It also highlights improvements that should be made to the Employment Act 1955 and the Employee Social Security Act 1969. The study employs qualitative method, in the form of semi-structured interviews conducted with platform workers and relevant authorities, in order to get their views in-depth on issues surrounding social security protection in digital labour platforms. The findings reveal that platform workers are susceptible to work-related injuries without appropriate compensation and retirement benefits due to gaps in the current legal framework. This study provides valuable insights for policymakers in devising social security protection for platform workers. The paper recommends the inclusion of ‘platform worker’ and ‘gig worker’ as employees under section 2 of the Employment Act 1955. © 2025, International Islamic University Malaysia-IIUM. All rights reserved.