This article was written by​ Dr Petra Attard and Tessa Borg Bartolo In a recent judgment, 67/2020 LM, the Court of Appeal dealt with a case where an employee was claiming to have been unfairly dismissed by his employer on account of a medical condition - Obstructive Sleep Apnoea. The employee had been diagnosed with this condition by a professional in the field after multiple warnings were given to him by his employer in this regard. The employer had brought to his attention the numerous occasions in which he was found sleeping while at work, as well as other inst...

This article was written by​ Dr Petra Attard and Dr Martina Bonnici The legislation currently regulating whistleblower protection in Malta is the Protection of the Whistleblower Act , Chapter 527 of the Laws of Malta (the ''Act ' ') which came into force on the 15 th September 2013. While the Whistleblowing Directive EU 2019/1937 (the "Directive") has not yet been transposed into Maltese law, Bill 249 of 2021, titled An Act to Amend the Protection of the Whistleblower Act (the "Amending Act"), published on the 15 th November 2021 seeks to amend the Act in order to...

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 ...