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Christine Calleja

Christine Calleja is a senior associate of the firm working in the employment law department. She has assisted various local and international companies in human resources matters, such as contract drafting, unfair dismissal claims, transfers of business and collective redundancies, as well as represented clients before the Maltese Industrial Tribunal and courts. Christine has also participated in educational seminars organised for the human resources industry as lecturer in this field. Furthermore, forming part of the litigation team, Christine specialises in insurance claims, representing a major insurance company in Malta and also individual claimaints in insurance related matters.

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Employment and Industrial Relations

No Discrimination When the Employer Pursues a Genuine Occupational Need

This article was written by​ Dr Christine Calleja & Tessa Borg BartoloA landmark judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union ('the CJEU') in joined cases C-804/18 and C-341/19 was decided on the 15th July 2021 relating to the employer's ability to enforce certain conditions on employees in order to present a neutral image at the workplace. The facts of the cases involved individuals in Germany who were instructed by their respective employers not to wear the traditional Islamic headscarf (hijab) at their place of work. After the decisions of the local German courts were delivered, a preliminary ruling…
Christine Calleja
16th September 2021
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Employment and Industrial Relations

Ex-employee of the St John Co-Cathedral Foundation awarded €23,000 in damages for unfair dismissal

An ex-employee of the St John's Co-Cathedral Foundation instituted proceedings before the Industrial Tribunal seeking compensation for unfair dismissal. The defendant Foundation argued that the ex-employee had committed several breaches throughout the years and that the final action of insubordination on his part had left the Foundation with no option other than to summarily dismiss him. The Tribunal commented that whilst the defendant had argued that the ex-employee had committed several abusive practices, its reaction towards such alleged abuses had always been lenient. A point worth mentioning is the fact that the disciplinary board which had been set up to…
Christine Calleja
19th February 2021
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Employment and Industrial Relations

Industrial Tribunal to have jurisdiction in case of termination of fixed term employment contracts

In the case of Waldemar Galea v l-Universita' ta' Malta, decided by the Court of Appeal on the 25th January 2019, it was held that due to the wording of the law in Chapter 452 (the Employment and Industrial Relations Act), cases of alleged unfair termination of fixed term employment contracts had to be decided by the normal civil courts and not by the Industrial Tribunal.Act LVIII of 2020, published on the 11th December 2020, now establishes that the definition of 'unfair dismissal' in the Act includes also the termination by the employer of a fixed term employment contract (except…
Christine Calleja
16th December 2020
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Employment and Industrial RelationsNews

Bullying at Work

This week (the week from Monday 16th November 2020 until the 20th November 2020) is anti-bullying week – a week meant to raise awareness against prejudice and bullying not only in schools but also at the workplace and cyber-bullying. Maltese employment law does not deal directly with bullying but with harassment, and this in connection with discriminatory treatment or with sexual harassment. Does this mean that unless there is discrimination involved, the employer is not bound to protect employees from bullying at work?The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service ('ACAS') in the UK defines bullying as behaviour from a person or…
Christine Calleja
17th November 2020
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Employment and Industrial RelationsNews

Court Judgment on Status of Employee

In a judgment delivered on the 30th September 2020, the Court of Appeal confirmed a decision of the Industrial Tribunal ("the Tribunal") which had found that the relationship between the applicant and the defendant company was not one of employment.The applicant had instituted proceedings before the Industrial Tribunal following the termination of his contract. He alleged that notwithstanding what his contract stated, he should be deemed an employee and therefore termination could only take place for a good and sufficient cause. Since the company had terminated his contract simply by giving notice according to the contract, he was therefore allegedly…
Christine Calleja
2nd October 2020
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Employment and Industrial Relations

How far should the employer go to provide alternative employment in case of health problems?

In a judgment delivered on the 1st July 2020 (case number 83/2019LM), the Court of Appeal considered the requirements of constructive dismissal. An ex-employee claimed that he had been forced to resign from his employment due to health problems which did not allow him to continue his job. Through his trade union, the employee requested the employer to provide him with alternative employment, but the company replied that none was available. After exhausting all his sick leave and a further period of unpaid leave, he decided to terminate his employment. The Tribunal had decided that the employee had not resigned…
Christine Calleja
10th July 2020