Pregnancy, maternity, and leave related to work-life balance for workers (Directive 92/85, relevant provisions of Directives 2006/54, 2010/18 and 2019/1158)

• Author: Romina Bartolo
• Pages: 25-37

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5Pregnancy, maternity, and leave related to work-life balance for workers

(Directive 92/85, relevant provisions of Directives 2006/54, 2010/18 and

2019/1158)24

5.1General (legal) context

5.1.1Surveys and reports on the practical difficulties linked to work-life balance

There are no reported surveys and reports published.

5.1.2Other issues

Statistics on the take-up of family-friendly measures show that women are the ones who

access such measures, whereas very few men do.25

5.1.3Overview of national acts on work-life balance issues

The national acts on work-life balance include the Employment and Industrial Relations

Act (Chapter 452 of the Laws of Malta), Parental Leave Entitlement Regulations, Urgent

Family Leave Regulations, Equal Treatment in Employment Regulations, Minimum Special

Leave Entitlement Regulations, Extension to Applicability to Service with Government

(Equal Treatment in Employment Regulations Parental Leave Entitlement Regulations and

Urgent Leave Regulations) Regulations, Equality for Men and Women Act (Chapter 456 of

the Laws of Malta), Protection of Maternity at Workplaces Regulations.

5.1.4Political and societal debate and pending legislative proposals

There are no additional issues to report.

5.2Pregnancy and maternity protection

5.2.1Definition in national law

Regulation 2 of the Protection of Maternity (Employment) Regulations provides the

definitions below.

A ‘breastfeeding employee’ means ‘an employee who is breastfeeding during a period of

up to twenty-six weeks after her date of confinement and who has informed her employer

of her condition by means of a certificate issued by a registered medical practitioner or

midwife’.

An ‘employee who has recently given birth’ means ‘an employee who has formally informed

her employer of her condition by means of a certificate issued by a registered medical

practitioner or midwife, and whose date of confinement was:

a)not more than fourteen weeks before in the case of a stillborn child, and

b)not more than twenty-six weeks before in the case of a live birth’.

24 See Masselot, A. (2018)Family leave: enforcement of the protection against dismissal and unfavourable

treatment, European network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available at

https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/4808-family-leave-enforcement-of-the-protection-against-

dismissal-and-unfavourable-treatment-pdf-962-kb and McColgan, A. (2015) Measures to address the

challenges of work-life balance in the EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway European

network of legal experts in gender equality and non-discrimination, available at

https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/3631-reconciliation.

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https://ncpe.gov.mt/en/Documents/Projects_and_Specific_Initiatives/Equality%20Beyond%20Gender%20

Roles/Power-point%20Presentation%20-%20JosAnn%20Cutajar.pdf.