Skip to main content
Category

Employment and Industrial Relations

News_MinWage.png
Protection of Employment for those on a minimum wage. Employment and Industrial Relations

Protection of Employment for those on a minimum wage.

In April of last year, mandatory supplements were introduced for those earning the minimum wage, (and for those who earn slightly more than the minimum wage but less than the new minimum wage with the €3 supplement), by means of amendments to the National Minimum Wage National Standard Order (S.L. 452.71). The supplements are to be paid weekly upon completion of the first year of employment and another supplement is to be paid upon completion of the second year of employment. What is interesting to note is proviso (5) to regulation 4 of the Standard Order which effectively limits the…
Christine Calleja
8th January 2018
News_employment.jpg
Limiting post-termination of employment restraints? Employment and Industrial Relations

Limiting post-termination of employment restraints?

In a Court of Appeal judgment dated the 27th October 2017, in the names of Paul u martu Mariella Mizzi kif ezercenti l-kummerc that l-isem "The Foto Grafer" v David Serracino et, the court considered a clause in a contract which effectively bound an employee to his employer for a period of at least two years of employment, failing which the employee was liable to pay to the employer the sum of Lm10,000. This sum was to be repaid back in view of the investment made by the employer to train the employee for the initial two years and in…
Christine Calleja
22nd November 2017
News_fiduciaryobligations.jpg
€350,000 in damages for breaching fiduciary obligations Employment and Industrial Relations

€350,000 in damages for breaching fiduciary obligations

In the recent judgment of M.A.I.N. Services Limited et v Albert Galea et (case 1246/07 JZM) delivered on the 28th September 2017, the Court examined in quite extensive detail the nature and the effects of fiduciary duties.The defendant had been a director and a trusted employee of the plaintiff company. Following his resignation from the company, a major foreign supplier ceased its business relationship with the company and started doing business with the defendant. In its judgment, the Court deemed that even following his resignation from the company as employee and director, the defendant had remained a fiduciary of the…
Christine Calleja
27th October 2017
News_Spying.jpg
Employers Beware before ‘Spying’ on Employees! Employment and Industrial RelationsNews

Employers Beware before ‘Spying’ on Employees!

In a case decided last year, in the famous case of Barbulescu v Romania, the ECHR had found that there had been no breach of the employee's right to privacy when his employer dismissed him over private messages sent at work on the Yahoo messenger system set up by the same employer for work purposes. The employee's private online exchanges were being monitored and recorded by his employer. Personal use, such as that made by the employee, was in violation of the employer's internal regulations. The employer had proceeded to terminate his employment with the local Romanian county court, and…
Christine Calleja
5th September 2017
News_GDPR_Employers.jpg
Confirmed: Employers Should Not Use Consent as a Legal Basis for Processing Employee Personal Data Employment and Industrial RelationsTelecoms, Media & Technology

Confirmed: Employers Should Not Use Consent as a Legal Basis for Processing Employee Personal Data

On 8 June 2017, the Article 29 Data Protection Working Party ("WP29") adopted Opinion 2/2017 on data processing at work ("the Opinion") ​ . This authoritative document complements previous WP29 publications on similar issues ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​. The Opinion now takes into account new technologies that affect the processing of employees' personal data at work. Moreover, the Opinion takes into account both the Data Protection Directive (Directive 95/46/EC) that is still in force at time of writing – transposed into Maltese legislation via the present Data Protection Act ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ – as well as the EU General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") that will enter…
Claude Micallef Grimaud
22nd August 2017
News_Leave.jpg
New Leave Entitlement: Medically Assisted Procreation in Malta Employment and Industrial Relations

New Leave Entitlement: Medically Assisted Procreation in Malta

On the 30th May 2017, new Regulations came into force – Leave for Medically Assisted Procreation National Standard Order (S.L. 452.114).The Regulations grant a period of paid leave to employees who undergo the process of medically assisted procreation. The prospective parents shall be entitled to 100 hours of leave with full pay between them, which leave is to be paid by the employer. The entitlement to one hundred hours of leave for medically assisted procreation with full pay shall be granted for every process of medically assisted procreation, up to a maximum of three processes. The 'receiving person' shall be…
Christine Calleja
22nd June 2017