Malta

• Author: Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (European Commission), European Centre of Expertise (ECE)
• Pages: 41-42

Flash Re por t 1 2/2018

Decem ber 20 18

41

Malt a

Sum ma ry

A new pr ovisi on t o regu late a nnua l leave in Malta h as be en ap prov ed.

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1 Nation al Le gislat ion

1.1 An nual le ave

01 Januar y 201 9 saw the ent ry int o fo rce of Su bsidiar y Le gislation 45 2.1 15, th e Ann ual

Leav e Nat ional St andard Order. This National Standard Order ( h er einaft er: ‘Or der’)

regulates the m inim um requ irem ents for annual leav e of em ploy ees and the ex tent to

wh ich a nnua l leave ca n be co ntr olled /lim ited by em ployers.

The salient pr ovisi ons a re t he f ollow ing:

• Leav e wit h pay sh all be t aken on days agreed on betw een the em plo yer and the

em ploy ee ( Regu lation 3 (2) );

• The em ployer m ay on ly use up to the eq uivalent hour s of t welv e working day s

from t he employ ee’s annu al leave ent itlem ent (as calculated in terms of t he

Sub sidi ary Leg islat ion 4 52. 87 : Org ani sati on of Wor kin g Time Regu lat ion s) fo r t he

pu rpos es of any ty pe of sh ut down , i nclud ing a t emp ora ry closur e of t he en tir e or

par t of t he em ploy er ’s p rem ises for bridge holiday s an d/ or any other sh or t

per iods of sh utd own;

• Any type of sh utdown , includin g a t em porar y closu re in f ull or in par t of t he

prem ises by th e em ployer for bridg e holiday s, shall be com m unicat ed to all

em ploy ees by the end of Janu ary of each calend ar year ;

• Once leav e is agr eed o n be twe en t he e mpl oyer and th e em ploy ee, it can on ly b e

can celled by th e em ploy er if t he em ploy ee ag rees t o said ca ncellat ion. Deci sions

on cance llation s can not be un ilateral;

• Ann ual leave shall also be accru ed dur ing m atern ity leav e, inj ury leave an d sick

leave, and sh all be carr ied o ver to the f ollow ing year if it was n ot possib le for

th e em ploy ee t o t ake annu al leav e in t he sam e ye ar as m aternity leave, inj ury

leave or sick leave;

• Any per iod of p re-arrang ed leav e shall not be consider ed t o have been used if it

coin cides w it h a p er iod of m atern it y , sickness or inj ury leave and shall be

av ailab le t o t he em plo yee after h er r etu rn to w ork or shal l be carr ied over to th e

subsequent year, if such leave could not b e taken dur ing t he year m aternity,

injur y or sick ness leave com menced ;

• Upon ‘term in at ion of em ploy m ent’, in case of an y out st an ding leave, even in

relat ion to th e pr evious calend ar year ( due to im possibility of taking leave due

to inj u ry leave, sickness leave or m aternity leav e) , the em p loyee m ust be

com pensat ed f or the ou t st an ding leave as st ipulated in th e Organisat ion of

Wor king Tim e Regulat ions;

• Any violat ion of th e Order com es with a ‘m inim um’ penalt y of EUR 45 0 and the

em ploy er w ill b e order ed by t he court to gr an t any out standing ann ual leave or

(p ost- t er min at ion of the em ploy m ent re lat ionsh ip) co mpe nsat e t he em ploy ee f or

outstand ing leave.