Standard Order, 2017

L.N. 156 of 2017

EMPLOYMENT AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS ACT

(CAP. 452)

Leave for Medically Assisted Procreation National

Standard Order, 2017

IN EXERCISE of the powers conferred by article 4 of the

Employment and Industrial Relations Act, the Minister for Social

Dialogue, Consumer affairs and Civil Liberties has made the

following order

(1)

The title of this order is the Leave for Medically

Assisted Procreation National Standard Order, 2017.

(2) The purpose of this order is to lay down minimum

requirements designed to grant a period of paid leave to employees

who undergo the process of medically assisted procreation, whether

in Malta or outside Malta.

(3) This order shall be applicable without prejudice to the

introduction and implementation of more favourable provisions in

collective agreements or other agreements entered into between the

employer and the employee.

(1)

In this order, unless the context otherwise requires;

"the Act" means the Employment and Industrial Relations Act;

"medically assisted procreation" means that process whereby an

embryo would develop following the bringing together of gametes,

which process would have been aided or assisted by means which go

beyond the workings of the natural process, and which includes all

types of intervention, be they intracorporeal or extracorporeal that

help the bringing together of gametes, and their implanting or the

implanting of the embryo that could have developed from this

intervention within the reproductive system of the receiving person;

"prospective parents" means the two persons who are united in

marriage, civil union, cohabitation, or who have attained the age of

majority and are in a stable relationship with each other.

(2) Subject to the provisions of sub-article (1), terms and

expressions used in this national standard order shall, unless the

context otherwise requires, have the same meaning assigned to them

by the Act.

(1)

The prospective parents who undergo the process Leave for

of medically assisted procreation, whether in or outside Malta, shall medically

assisted

be entitled to one hundred hours of leave for medically assisted procreation.

procreation with full pay between them, which leave shall be paid by

the employer.

(2) Leave for medically assisted procreation shall be utilised at

any time during the process of medically assisted procreation

Provided that the prospective parent acting as the receiving

person shall be entitled to sixty hours of leave; whereas the other

prospective parent shall be entitled to forty hours of leave

Provided further that there is nothing precluding the

prospective parents from utilising the aforementioned hours of leave

in a non-continuous manner

Provided finally that 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.

(3) Leave for medically assisted procreation granted by this

order shall be utilised as follows

(a)

if only one of the prospective parents is in

employment during the process of medically assisted

procreation

(i) sixty hours of leave shall be enjoyed by that

prospective parent acting as the receiving person;

(ii) forty hours of leave shall be enjoyed by that

prospective parent who is not acting as the receiving

person;

(b)

if both prospective parents are in employment,

whether with different employers or with the same employer,

during the process of medically assisted procreation, leave may

be enjoyed concurrently by both prospective parents.

(4) It shall be the responsibility of the employee who is a

prospective parent in terms of this order, who requests leave for

medically assisted procreation, to provide proof to the employer that

he is the receiving or the non-receiving person, and proof about the

employment status of the other prospective parent.

(1)

Any employee who is a prospective parent and who Notification.

intends to avail himself of leave for medically assisted procreation

shall notify the employer in writing of the date or dates when he

intends to avail himself of such entitlement.

(2) The notification referred to in this article shall include a

written certification by the medical practitioner in charge of the

procedure of medically assisted procreation.

(3) The notification referred to in this article shall be given to

the employer at least two weeks before the utilisation of the leave for

medically assisted procreation begins, in so far as is reasonably

practicable.

In those cases where the prospective parent wishes to avail

himself of the leave for medically assisted procreation in a non-

continuous manner in terms of the first proviso to article 3(1), he shall

present his employer with relevant certification every time he wishes

to use part of that leave, and such certification shall be forwarded to

the employer at least two working days before each part of the leave

commences.

The leave for medically assisted procreation is to be

granted independently and irrespectively of any other kinds of leave

granted by the Act or by any legislation issued thereunder.

An employee who is a prospective parent and who intends

to or avails himself of leave in terms of this order shall not be

dismissed by the employer by reason of the intention or availing

himself of such leave.

Any person contravening the provisions of this order shall

be guilty of an offence and shall be liable, on conviction, to a fine

(multa) of not less than five hundred euro (€500).

€0.27