ANNUAL LEAVE NATIONAL STANDARD ORDER

ANNUAL LEAVE

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 452.115

ANNUAL LEAVE NATIONAL

STANDARD ORDER

10th August, 2018

LEGAL NOTICE 271 of 2018,as amended by Legal Notices 440 of 2018

and 58 of 2021.

(1)

The title of this order is the Annual Leave

National Standard Order.

(2)

For the purposes of this order, "the Act" means the

Employment and Industrial Relations Act.

(3)

The terms and expressions used in this order, unless the

context otherwise requires, shall have the same meaning assigned to

them in the Act.

(1)

This order lays down the minimum requirements

related to the entitlement of annual leave in terms of the Organisation

of Working Time Regulations.

(2)

This order shall be applicable without prejudice to the

introduction and implementation of provisions in collective

agreements or in any other agreement entered into between employers

and employees which are more favourable to employees.

(1)

Leave with pay from the annual leave entitlement

shall be availed of on days agreed upon between the employer and

employee.

(2)

As from the 1st of January 2019, unless otherwise agreed

to in any applicable collective agreement, or unless otherwise agreed

in any agreement reached between the employer or employers or

employers’ associations on the one hand and the employees on the

other, the employer may only utilize up to the equivalent in hours of

twelve working days from the annual leave entitlement, to be

calculated as provided for in the Organisation of Working Time

Regulations, for the purposes of any type of shutdown, including a

temporary closure of whole or part of the premises by the employer for

bridge holidays or any other short periods of shutdown.

(3)

Any type of shutdown, including a temporary closure of

whole or part of the premises by the employer for bridge holidays,

shall be communicated to all the employees by the end of January of

each calendar year.

Once leave from the annual leave entitlement of the

employee has been agreed to by the employer and the employee, such

leave cannot be cancelled unilaterally but can only be cancelled if both

the employer and the employee are in agreement.

ANNUAL LEAVE

Should an employee or employees be made to avail

himself of forced leave by his employer, notwithstanding anything

stated to the contrary in any law, in any contract of service or in any

collective agreement, the employer shall always provide a written

statement within a reasonable time frame before the forced leave starts

to run, wherein the employer gives justified reasons compelling the

imposition of forced leave on the employee or employees. In such

instances the utilization of such forced leave does not give rise to a civil

debt in favour of the employer should the leave taken exceed the annual

leave entitlement of the employee due by virtue of the Organization of

Working Time Regulations or by virtue of the contract of employment

or the applicable collective agreement

Provided that, notwithstanding the provisions of this

regulation, any leave taken by an employee which has been requested

by the employee himself, which is in excess of the annual leave

entitlement due by virtue of the Organization of Working Time

Regulations or by virtue of the contract of employment or the applicable

collective agreement, shall give rise to a civil debt in favour of the

employer upon termination of the employee’s employment.

(1)

Annual leave shall continue to accrue in favour of

an employee during the period when she is on maternity leave in terms

of the Protection of Maternity (Employment) Regulations

Provided that notwithstanding anything to the contrary

stated in any law, order or regulation, any balance of annual leave

unavailed of by the end of the calendar year shall be automatically

transferred to the next calendar year when it has not been possible for

the employee to avail herself of such leave during the same year when

the maternity leave commenced.

(2)

When a public or national holiday falling on a day of work

or on a weekly day of rest not being a Saturday or a Sunday, falls within

a period of maternity leave of any employee in respect of whom the

Protection of Maternity (Employment) Regulations apply, such

employee shall be entitled to the equivalent in hours of an additional

day of annual leave to be calculated on the basis provided for in

regulation 8 of the Organisation of Working Time Regulations.

Annual leave shall continue to accrue in favour of an

employee during the period when he is on sick leave or injury leave in

terms of the Act, orders or regulations issued thereunder

Provided that notwithstanding anything to the contrary

stated in any law, order or regulation, any balance of annual leave

unavailed of by the end of the calendar year shall be automatically

transferred to the next calendar year when it has not been possible for

the employee to avail himself of such leave during the same year when

the sickness or injury leave commenced.

ANNUAL LEAVE

The provisions laid down in articles 5 and 6 of this order

shall apply

(a)

irrespective of whether the annual leave

entitlement is the minimum provided by law or is of a longer

duration by virtue of a collective agreement or any other

agreement entered into by the employer and the employee

concerned; and

(b)

in case of article 5, irrespective of the duration of

the maternity leave entitlement in terms of the Protection of

Maternity (Employment) Regulations.

Notwithstanding anything to the contrary stated in any

law, order or regulation, any period of pre-arranged leave coinciding

with a period of maternity, sickness or injury leave shall be considered

as not having been availed of but shall be availed of after the return to

work or shall be carried on to the subsequent year if such leave could

not be availed of during the same year when the maternity, sickness or

injury leave commenced.

Where the employment relationship is terminated for

whatever reason, all the balance of annual leave, including that annual

leave which had accrued during a period of maternity leave, a period

of sickness or during a period of injury but which had not been availed

of, must be paid in accordance with the Organisation of Working Time

Regulations.

Any person who contravenes or fails to comply with the

provisions of this order shall be guilty of an offence against the Act in

terms of article 45 of the Act and shall be liable to a minimum fine

(multa) of four hundred and sixty-five euro (€465). Moreover, in any

proceedings instituted on the basis of an alleged breach of this order,

besides the aforementioned penalty, the Court shall impose an

obligation on the employer to grant any annual leave not availed of

and accrued in any previous years in terms of this order. In the case of

an employee who is no longer in the employment of the employer, the

Court shall order the employer to pay a sum equal to the paid annual

leave not availed of and accrued in any previous years in terms of this

order.

L-Ordni ta’ Standard Nazzjonali dwar Jum ta’ Mistrieħ

fil-Ġimgħa u Leave għal Vaganza Annwali qiegħedb’dan jiġi

imħassar.