EU Work-Life Balance Directive: Maltese Employees to Benefit from Paternity, Parental, and Carers’ Leave
Services offered by ECOVIS Malta: Legal consulting; drafting of HR guidelines, manuals, policies and procedures; Employment Law; EU workplace compliance advisory
On 12 July 2022, the Government announced a legislative package to transpose the EU’s Work-Life Balance Directive, adopted in 2019. The Directive aims to enhance work-life balance through additional measures, which will help families juggle between paid work, family life, and caring responsibilities. The key highlights of the newly enacted ‘The Work-Life Balance for Parents and Carers Regulations’ include the following measures:
- Fathers will receive ten days of fully paid leave on the birth of their child;
- Parents will be entitled to two months paid parental leave at the national parental leave rate whilst also benefitting from another two months of unpaid leave, transferable from one parent to another.
- Parents will have the right to request flexible working arrangements for the first eight years of the child’s life through the use of flexible working patterns, remote working arrangements, or reduced working hours;
- Employees will benefit from five days of unpaid carers’ leave per year to take care of an ill family member or anyone living within the same household.
At the end of the paternal, parental, and carers’ leave, employees are entitled to return to their positions or equivalent posts on terms and working conditions, which are no less favourable to which they would have been entitled had they not benefitted from the leave. The Regulations will come into force on 2 August and apply to all employees engaged on an employment contract or have an employment relationship, collective agreement or practice in force.
For further information about the new measures and assistance on how this law will impact your business, please contact ECOVIS Malta on malta@ecovis.com.
Dr. Roberta Avellino Pule’
ECOVIS Malta – Snr. Legal Consultant
