European Restructuring Monitor (ERM)
Eurofound's ERM database on restructuring-related legal regulations provides information on regulations in the Member States of the European Union and Norway which are explicitly or implicitly linked to anticipating and managing change.
Article 42 of Chapter 452; Legal Notice 46 - whole legislation; Article 10 of Legal Notice 201 of 2022
Article 42 of the Employment and Industrial Relations Act 2002
In order to avoid redundancies this article allows for agreements between the employer and the employee or union representatives that provide for different conditions of employment as a temporary measure in order to avoid redundancies. These temporary measures which must always be approved by the director responsible for employment and industrial relations and reviewed every four weeks, may include among others a shorter working week.
Banking of Hours
Legal Notice 46 of 2012, namely the 'Overtime Regulations 2012', introduced a system of annualised hours. In each calendar year, this system allows an employer to bank overtime hours to a maximum of 376 of the normal annual working hours per employee. This practice allows employees to bank overtime hours and above the normal weekly working hours in the periods of higher work activity, which would then be redeemed during periods of lower activity, by having working hours below the normal weekly working hours. Prior to introducing such a system the employer should obtain the approval of the Director responsible for Employment and Industrial Relations. Unless otherwise agreed between the parties, any scheme shall not prejudice the provisions of any collective agreement present at the workplace.
This legislation among others protects employees whose contract of employment is terminated by providing the following measures:
Work-Life Balance for Carers and Parents
Directive (EU) 2019/1158 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on Work-life balance for Parents and Carers, was transposed into Maltese law on 12th July 2022 through Legal Notice 201 of 2022: the Work-Life Balance for Parents and Carers Regulations, which came into force on the 2nd August 2022. The Regulations provide for flexible working arrangements for parents and carers, with ‘flexible working arrangements’ being defined as ‘the possibility for workers to adjust their working patterns’ (Article 3), Such flexible working arrangements could include (but are not limited to) the use of flexible working schedules such as flexitime; remote working; and reduced hours (Articles 3, 10).
Under Article 10 of L.N. 201 of 2022, workers with children aged up to eight years, and other carers, have the right to request flexible working arrangements for the purpose of such care. Employers are to respond to requests for flexible working arrangements within two weeks, giving reasons for refusal or postponement of the requested arrangements.
The article also allows for limiting the duration of such flexible working arrangements, with the worker retaining the right to request a return to the prior working arrangement if circumstances change, before the duration ends. The employer is to consider and respond to such a request taking into consideration the needs of both the worker and the employer.
Dismissal on the ground that a worker has exercised their right to request flexible working conditions is unlawful (Article 14).
Labour legislation and relating amendments are discussed at formulation stage in the tripartite Employment Relations Board (ERB). Members forming this board come from trade unions, employers' associations and the government.
Article 42 of the Employment and Industrial Relations Act 2002 The provisions in article 42 have been resorted to in various occasions as to avoid redundancies such as in the recent global financial crisis that affected the manufacturing industry. Past agreements involved temporary recourses to a four day week which meant a reduction in the weekly wage.
Banking of Hours Social partners are aware of the importance of having flexible working time arrangements particularly in activities which are conditioned by seasonality such as those associated with tourism, which is a very significant sector in the Maltese economy. The importance that social partners attach to flexible working hours can be seen in the fact that over the years, they unanimously defended the opt-out clause in the Working Time Directive that was negotiated by Malta before joining the EU. This clause permits workers in Malta to work more than the prescribed maximum of 48 hours per week if they consent to do so in writing.
Work-life Balance for Carers and Parents
Flexible working has, in recent years, been high on the agenda in social partners’ discussions on the future of work, having more urgently come to the fore during COVID years (MCESD, 2020).
Some legal practitioners have noted that providing for such flexible arrangements, while admirable in principle, creates a challenge for HR specialists, who need to adapt or ‘introduce new administrative processes’ to ‘ensure that their internal mechanisms’ comply with the requirements and facilitate such measures (MK Malta, 2022).
Eurofound (2015), Malta: Working time flexibility, Restructuring legislation database, Dublin, https://apps.eurofound.europa.eu/legislationdb/working-time-flexibility/malta
Between the end of 2022 and the first half of 2023, almost 300,000 employees working for ‘big tech’ companies were laid off across the world, making headlines for months in global media. This development has been a shock, considering the high numbers of jobs in well-known tech corporations with a reputation for offering good working conditions and well-paid positions.
The retail banking sector is fertile ground for studying the impacts of digitalisation on work and employment. Financial services are increasingly provided online, without the intermediary of customer-facing institutions. Many banks in the sector have been undergoing serial restructuring since the global financial crisis, and it is one of the few service sectors with stagnant or declining employment.
Since 2011, the Restructuring support instruments database of the EU PolicyWatch has been collecting information on measures that assist companies and workers to anticipate and manage restructuring. This article looks at measures in the database aimed at supporting employees and employers during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2022).
Eurofound’s European Restructuring Monitor database reveals the impact of the energy crisis on employment in the EU. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, energy prices have hit record highs. The European Commission imposed sanctions and limitations on the import of oil and gas from Russia, which has reacted by reneging on supply commitments to many Member States.
