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Better days ahead for employees

By Marika Azzopardi

The White Paper on employment and industrial relations has been claimed as being as family friendly as possible and employees are in for a great improvement in their general conditions of work.

There are many aspects to this well-meaning set of proposals which are meant to guide the country towards a better in-house management of its world of work.

Two main strong points in the Conditions of Employment (Regulations) Act (CERA), are two socio-economic targets which the government is planning to achieve shortly, namely

- the raising of the female participation rate

- the full utilisation of the national human resource pool

Health and safety legislation includes a rule which states that an employee cannot be requested to work overtime, unless there is prior approval of the Director.

The White Paper also raises the issue related to the organisation of working time at the place of work including the implementation of 48 hr working time ceiling as directed by occupational health and safety regulations.

A new amendment for part-time employees which will increase benefits coming their way directs employers to give the cost of living increase on a pro rata basis.

On the side of working women with families, the employment agenda is focusing attention on the pregnant female. Female pregnant workers will be entitled to a total of 14 weeks of leave receiving remuneration equivalent to 13 weeks of basic wage.

Only one week is given without pay and the pregnant worker is now obliged to take at least 6 weeks off after the date of confinement and she may decide on how to distribute the remaining 8 weeks as long as these are taken immediately before or after the 6 week period.

After the child is born, it is a well-known fact that both parents usually require some form of parental leave, be it to simply tend to a new-born or to attend hospital visits or school appointments. An important EU directive which is sure to grab attention is the one which obliges member states to grant a minimum of 3 months unpaid leave, to be utilised by the employee until his or her child reaches 8 years of age. This directive is applicable also in the case of adopted children. In compensation the employer is granted a certain level of discretion on the manner in which this leave is distributed across the period until the child reaches 8 years.