A Jobstreet survey found that more than 26 percent of employees admitted to faking sickness to obtain medical leave (MC) over the past six months.

The reason that most employees cited was not being motivated at their workplace which made them avoid coming to work.

"The top three reasons given by employees were: no mood to work, feeling burnt-out and some even faked sickness to attend job interviews," Jobstreet said.

The survey also showed that one in four employees were willing to purchase fake MCs if they were given an opportunity to do so, with some MCs costing up to RM25.

"I would purchase a MC if my boss does not approve my leave and I need a break after working 14 hours the day before," a senior level executive commented.

From the employers’ perspective, more than 57 percent believed they have staff who pretended to be sick to obtain MCs.

"Employers said they used warning letters, verbal warnings and poor performance appraisals as some common actions to deter this problem in their company," Jobstreet sated.

Earlier this year, a Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) survey revealed that local employers lost RM2.9 billion annually in overtime payments to workers replacing those on medical leave.

An expert also commented that human resource managers needed to rectify this abuse immediately to address recurring issues.

"Employees who abuse medical leave facilities tend to be from those with low commitments, poor morale and poor work-life balance," said Aresandiran Jaganatha Naidu, the president of Malaysian Institute of Human Resource Management (MIHRM).

The survey which Jobstreet conducted in June 2014 was participated by a total of 1,058 employers and 749 employees across various industries in Malaysia.