ACT No. XVI of 2012 An Act to amend the Employment and Industrial Relations Act, BE IT ENACTED by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the House of Representatives, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows:-

I assent.

G EORGE A BELA

(L.S.)

President

26th October, 2012

ACT No. XVI of 2012

An Act to amend the Employment and Industrial Relations Act,

BE IT ENACTED by the President, by and with the advice and

consent of the House of Representatives, in this present Parliament

assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows:-

The short title of this Act is the Employment and Industrial Short title.

Relations (Amendment) Act, 2012, and this Act shall be read and

construed as one with the Employment and Industrial Relations Act, Cap. 452.

hereinafter referred to as "the principal Act".

Sub-article (1) of article 2 of the principal Act shall be Amendment of

article 2 of the

amended as follows

principal Act

(a)

the definition of "contract of service" and "contract

of employment" shall substituted by the following

" "contract of service" and "contract of

employment" means an agreement, (other than service as a

member of a disciplined force) whether oral or in writing,

in any form, whereby a person binds himself to render

service to or to do work for an employer, in return for

wages, and, in so far as conditions of employment are

concerned, includes an agreement of apprenticeship

Provided that unless otherwise specifically

referred to in another law, in this Act or in any regulations

made under this Act, irrespective of the declared nature of

the relationship, whenever the employer exercises

effective direction, control and choice over the nature of

the work or the tasks being or to be performed by a person

for the employer, that relationship shall be considered to be

one of a contract of service and the person carrying out the

work shall be deemed to be an employee of the

employer;";

(b) in the definition of "employees’ representative", the

word "Director" shall be substituted by the word "employer";

(c)

immediately after the definition of "sectoral

regulation order", there shall be added the following new

definition

" "self-employed persons" means all persons

pursuing a gainful activity on their own account;";

(d)

in the definition of "whole-time employee"-

(i) the term "conditions of employment:" shall

be substituted by the term "conditions of employment;",

and

(ii)

the proviso thereof shall be deleted.

Sub-article (2) of article 8 of the principal Act shall be

deleted and article 8(1) shall be renumbered as article 8.

Article 23 of the principal Act shall be substituted by the

following new article

Every employer shall pay, or cause to be

paid, to each of his whole-time employees such

statutory bonuses in the amount as may either be

established by legal notice issued by the Minister of

Finance by virtue of this article or as the Government

may announce in the General Estimates of any

particular year

Provided that such statutory bonuses shall be

paid between the 15 th and the 30 th day of the month of

June and between the 15 th and 23 rd day of the month of

December of each year and shall be in the form of a sum

of money which, in either case, shall not be less than

one-half of that which the Government shall have

announced in the general estimates of any particular

year as payable by the Government to each of its

employees during that year

Provided further that the employer shall also

pay, or cause to be paid, to each of his whole-time

employees any income supplements in the amount and

at the times as may be established by legal notice issued

by the Minister of Finance by virtue of this article

Provided further that, where any person has

been in whole-time employment with any particular

employer for a period of less than a year, such employee

shall be entitled to receive from his employer, or from

any of his employers, a proportionate amount of the

bonus or income supplement and for the purposes of

this article, the pro rata calculation shall be made on the

basis of the annual hours worked

Provided finally that this article shall also

apply to apprentices in a manner as may be specified in

any applicable scheme under the Employment and

Training Services Act.".

5. The first proviso of article 33 of the principal Act shall be Amendment of

amended as follows

(a)

the words "in employment after the date of

termination" shall be substituted by the words "in employment

in the same category after the date of termination";

(b) the words "re-employed by the employer" shall be

substituted by the words "re-employed in the same category by

the employer"; and

(c)

the words "under this Act." shall be substituted by

the words "under this Act:" and immediately thereafter there

shall be added the following new proviso

"Provided further that notwithstanding any

agreement to the contrary, a contract of service for an

indefinite term shall not be changed into a fixed term

contract of service where no substantial change has been

effected as to the work of the employee or to his category

and any agreement to this effect shall be null and void and

the employment contract shall, for all intents and purposes

of law, be considered to have remained an indefinite one.".

6. In paragraph (e) of sub-article (5) of article 36 of the

principal Act, the words "year of service up to a" shall be substituted

by the words "year of service or part thereof up to a".

7. Immediately after article 47 of the principal Act, there

shall be added the following new article

Notwithstanding the provisions of the

General’s right

Criminal Code, the Attorney General shall always

have a right of appeal to the Court of Criminal

Appeal from any judgment given by the Court of

Magistrates in respect of criminal proceedings

according to the provisions of this Act.".

8. Sub-articles (1) and (2) of article 48 of the principal Act

shall be substituted by the following

"(1) The Prime Minister shall have power to

prescribe by regulations the applicability of any article or

sub-article of Title I and of Title II of this Act to service

with the government and to members of a disciplined

force.

(2) The Minister shall have power to make

regulations for the purpose of carrying out and giving

effect to any of the provisions of this Act on any matter

related to employment relations and industrial relations.".

9. In paragraph (g) of sub-article (6) of article 64 of the

principal Act, the words "responsible for transport" shall be deleted.

Passed by the House of Representatives at Sitting No. 511 of the

22nd October, 2012.

M ICHAEL F RENDO

Speaker

R AYMOND S CICLUNA

Clerk to the House of Representatives