PRINTING AND PUBLISHING WAGES COUNCIL WAGE REGULATION ORDER

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 452.48

PRINTING AND PUBLISHING WAGES COUNCIL

WAGE REGULATION ORDER

1st August, 1977

LEGAL NOTICE 88 of 1977, as amended by Legal Notices 6 of 1979,

427 of 2007, 153 of 2010, 362 of 2012, 334, 444 of 2013, 482 of 2014, 5 of

2016, 97 and 383 of 2017, 104 and 351 of 2019, 469 of 2020,464 of 2021,

335 of 2022, 286 of 2023, 341 of 2024 and 288 of 2025.

The title of this Order is Printing and Publishing Wages

Council Wage Regulation Order.

1. In this Schedule, unless the context otherwise requires -

"customary holidays" means the days (other than Sundays)

declared for the time being to be public holidays by or under the

National Holidays and other Public Holidays Act;

"day worker" means an employee who is not a night worker;

"hours of work" means the time on any day during which an

employee is at the disposal of the employer, exclusive of the

intervals allowed for meals and rest;

"night worker" means an employee, other than a watchman,

whose hours of work on any day, exclusive of overtime, start after

The provisions of the Schedule to this Order shall apply to

all employees in respect of whom the Printing and Publishing

Wages Council operates.

L-inqas rimunerazzjoni fil-ġimgħa li għandha titħallas lill-

impjegati whole-time għandha tkun din li ġejja

(a) Għassiesa .................................................. €229.44

u

(b) Impjegati oħra tal-età ta’

(i) 18-il sena jew fuqhom ...................... €229.44

(ii) 17-il sena ......................................... €222.66

(iii) 16-il sena ......................................... €219.82.

L-impjegati, sew ta’ bi nhar kemm ta’ bil-lejl, jingħataw

intervalli ta’ mhux anqas, b’kollox, minn siegħa għall-ikel u għall-

mistrieħ f ’kull perjodu ta’ mpieg li fih is-sigħat tax-xogħol ma

jkunux inqas minn ħames sigħat u nofs.

00 p.m. or end after 8.00 p.m.;

"part-time employee" means an employee whose normal hours of

work, calculated on a weekly basis or on average over a period of

employment of up to one year, are less than the normal hours of

work of a comparable whole-time employee and who is not a

whole-time employee with reduced hours;

"period of employment" means the time in any day during which

an employee is at the disposal of the employer, but inclusive of the

intervals allowed for meals and rest;

"time-and-a-half" means one and a half times the hourly rate

obtained by dividing by forty, in the case of day worker, and by

thirty-eight, in the case of a night worker, the minimum weekly

remuneration to which the employee is entitled under the

provisions of paragraph 3 of this Schedule;

"wage" means remuneration or earnings, payable in money by an

employer to an employee;

"whole-time employee" means an employee who is deemed to be

a whole-time employee in terms of any recognized conditions of

employment;

"working day", in respect of any employee, means any day in

which such employee is normally expected to work.

2. The minimum weekly remuneration specified in paragraph

3 of this Schedule relates -

(a) in the case of a day worker, to a week of forty hours of

work spread over five days;

(b) in the case of a night worker, to a week of thirty-eight

hours of work exclusive of overtime, and in the case of

watchman, to a week of forty-eight hours of work

exclusive of overtime.

3. The minimum weekly remuneration payable to whole-time

employees shall be the following

(a) Watchmen ............................................... €229.44;

and

(b) Other employees aged

(i) 18 years or over ............................. €229.44

(ii) 17 years ........................................ €222.66

(iii) 16 years ........................................ €219.82.

4. Employees, whether day or night workers, shall be allowed

intervals of not less, in the aggregate, than one hour for meals and

rest in any one period of employment in which the hours of work

are not less than five and a half.

5. Employees shall be allowed one whole day off each week.

(1)

Overtime shall be payable as follows

(a) in the case of watchmen, time-and-a-half for all work

in excess of forty-eight hours in any week;

(b) in the case of day workers other than watchmen -

(i)

for work in excess of eight hours in any one

day ........................................ time-and-a-half;

(ii) for work in excess of forty hours in any week,

exclusive of any time paid for at overtime

rates........................................ time-and-a-half;

(c) in the case of night workers other than watchmen -

(i)

for work in excess of six and a half hours in any

period of employment ............. time-and-a-half;

(ii) for work in excess of thirty-eight hours in any

week, exclusive of any time paid for at overtime

rates ......................................... time-and-a-half.

(2) Saving the provisions of sub-paragraph (1) of this

paragraph -

(a) in the case of night workers conditioned to a five day

week, the number of hours in excess of which work is

to be paid for at overtime rates shall be seven and a

half hours in any period of employment, and

(b) subject to the provisions of paragraph 7 of this

Schedule, in any week in which a working day

happens to be a customary holiday, overtime shall be

payable for work in excess of thirty-two hours in the

case of day workers, and thirty-one and a half hours in

the case of night workers conditioned to a six day

week and thirty and a half hours in the case of night

workers conditioned to a five day week.

Whole-time employees shall be entitled, in every calendar

year, to -

(a) all customary holidays with full pay, and

(b) after three months in employment, vacation leave of

such number of working days with full pay as is

equivalent to the number of working days as that

particular employee should normally attend to work

during a period of four weeks

Provided that whole-time employees who have

been in employment for less than one year shall be

entitled to such part of the said vacation leave as is in

proportion to the number of months in employment.

(1) After the completion of one year’s continuous service,

a whole-time employee shall in every calendar year be entitled to

the equivalent in hours of twelve days sick leave on full pay, less an

amount equal to the sum set for sickness benefit entitlement at the

rate established under the Social Security Act, and part-time

employees shall have a pro rata entitlement to sick leave in hours

on full pay, less an amount equal to the sum set for sickness benefit

entitlement at the rate established under the Social Security Act,

which amount is also to be calculated on a pro rata basis

Provided that -

(a) the first three days of any claim for sick leave shall be

paid in full by the employer;

(b) a medical certificate covering the period of absence is

produced to the employer on the day of return to work

or, if such period of absence is longer than seven days,

within seven days of the onset of sick leave absence;

(c) employees in receipt of a social security pension in

respect of retirement or widowhood in terms of the

Social Security Act shall, for the purpose of

calculating the sick leave pay due, be deemed to have

received an amount equal to the sum set for sickness

benefit entitlement at the rate established under the

Social Security Act.

(2) The employer may require a medical certificate by his own

physician to certify incapacity for work during the period of

absence.

(3) The sick leave entitlement granted by virtue of this

paragraph shall be calculated on the basis provided for annual leave

as specified in regulation 8(1) of the Organisation of Working Time

Regulations.

A whole-time employee shall be entitled to a maximum of

one year injury leave on full pay, less the full amount of any injury

benefit to which such employee may be entitled in terms of the

Social Security Act, if he is injured during the actual discharge of

his duty, and such injury is not due to any contributory negligence

on his part or to the contravention by him of any safety rules laid

down by the management.

Whole-time employees shall be allowed two days paid

leave on the occasion of the death of any of the following relatives

the wife or husband, the mother or father (or the person who, at the

time, was in fact acting as the mother or father of the employee),

the daughter or son, and the sister or brother.

Whole-time employees shall be allowed two days paid

leave on the occasion of their marriage and one day paid leave on

the occasion of the birth of any child to the wife of the employee.

Whole-time employees called for jury service shall be

allowed all necessary time off to enable them to attend the Courts

without loss of pay.

Part-time employees shall be paid pro rata at an hourly rate

not less than that applicable to whole-time employees, namely the

appropriate rate per week shown in paragraph 3 of this Schedule,

divided by the number of hours as stipulated in paragraph 2 of the

said Schedule.

In cases where the retiring age of a male employee is

expected at the age of sixty years, such employee shall be given the

opportunity by his employer to retain his employment beyond this

age at least until the age of sixty-one years, provided that the

employee in question shall still be allowed, if he so wishes, to retire

at the age of sixty years.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order but is intended to indicate its

applicability).

The provisions of the above Schedule will apply to all

employees, other than apprentices, in all establishments engaged in

PRINTING AND PUBLISHING

WAGES COUNCIL WAGE REGULATION

printing, publishing or book-binding.