The Malta Cabinet has approved a motion to amend the National Holidays and Other Public Holidays Act (Cap 252) which will count national or public holidays that fall on weekends as additional vacation leave days to employees.
In light of a serious move towards achieving a more balanced life-work allocation, an amendment was approved by Cabinet on 21 December 2020 to reverse a change that had happened in 2005 in employment laws. As from 2021, it is being proposed that wherein national or public holidays fall on Saturdays or Sundays, the latter would now be added to an employee's yearly allotment of leave days.
The National Holidays and Other Public Holidays Act (Cap 252) will now be revised to the effect when a public holiday falls on a weekend, then the employee would be entitled to a compensatory additional day of leave to be added on to his/her statutory entitlement.
By way of example, 2021will present 3 additional days since 1st May, 15th August and Christmas day are will happen on a Saturday or Sunday.
The next step is now for a motion to be presented to Parliament and the intention is to carry this out as soon as possible after the start of 2021.
