Special Treatment

Maltese law affords additional protection from termination of employment to:

• employees suffering from any personal injury by accident in the course of their employment or any occupational disease occurring in the service of that employer, unless termination is agreed to by the employee;
• full-time female employees during the period of maternity leave or the period of 5 weeks following the end of such maternity leave, during which she may be incapable of working owing to a post-natal pathological condition arising out of confinement. The law, however, also introduces a measure to reward the employer for supporting such full-time female employees during their pregnancy by providing that if the employee does not resume work after the birth of her child or, having resumed work, terminates her employment without good and sufficient cause within 6 months of the resumption of work, she would liable to refund the wages received during the maternity leave availed of.

The employer is also prohibited from using the following circumstances as a “good and sufficient cause” for terminating the employment of any employee/s:

• the employee at the time of the dismissal was a member of a trade union, or is seeking office as, or acting or has acted in the capacity of an employees’ representative;
• except in the case of a private domestic employee, that the employee no longer enjoys the employer’s confidence;
• the employee is pregnant with child or is absent from work during maternity leave;
• the employee has filed a complaint or is participating in proceedings against the employer involving alleged violation of laws or regulations by such employer; or is having recourse to competent administrative authorities;
• the employee discloses information, whether confidential or otherwise, to a designated public regulating body, regarding alleged illegal or corrupt activities being committed by the employer or by persons acting in the employer’s name and interests;
• the employee has contracts marriage;
• the business in which the employee is engaged has undergone a transfer of ownership, unless it is proved that such termination is necessary for economic, technical or organisational reasons entailing changes in the workforce.