This article was written by​ Dr Christine Calleja & Tessa Borg Bartolo A 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 15 th 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 ...

On the 4 th March 2021, the Seventh Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union issued its decision on an important matter related to the breach of ambient air quality legislation by the UK government ( European Commission v. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, c-664/18 ). This case is only one among several others filed by the Commission against EU Member States, including France, Italy, Bulgaria and Hungary. Directive 2008/50/EC on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe required Member States of the EU to adopt the air polluti...

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 ...

In the case of Waldemar Galea v l-Universita' ta' Malta, decided by the Court of Appeal on the 25 th 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 11 th December 2020, now establishes that the definition of 'unfair dismissal' in the Act includes also the termination by the employer of a fixed term employ...

This week (the week from Monday 16 th November 2020 until the 20 th 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...