Malta To Reject Amendments To EU Working Time Directive

by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London

16 September 2004

Malta is set to challenge new measures contained in the European Commission’s proposed amendments to the working time directive giving employees more power to determine how many hours they work, the Times of Malta has reported.

Sources close to the government revealed to The Times that Malta will reject the proposals along with a handful of other member states hostile to the Commission’s move, among them the United Kingdom.

Implementation of the new recommendations would give trade unions the right to reject working weeks longer than 48 hours, whilst individual agreements between workers and employers would not be able to exceed one year. Waivers for the 48-hour week would also not be permitted to be signed with employee contracts.

A limit of 65 hours on the amount of overtime that can be worked has also been proposed.

Malta has negotiated a transitional agreement before introducing new employee rights legislation. At present, a Maltese employee can choose to work more then 40 hours a week and do overtime. He can also refuse to work more then 48 hours, even if the extra time is considered overtime.

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