“Most employers within the country are resorting to redundancies as a last resort since the lay-off of people is not as straight forward as turning off a switch,” Director General of Malta Employers’ Association (MEA) Joseph Farrugia said.

As the outbreak of the Coronavirus forces all bars, restaurants, cinemas, clubs and gyms to close their doors, large and small businesses are feeling the impact of the latest measures. This measure was implemented to avoid the spread of the virus.

Due to the fact that this is a very fluid situation there have been “no official figures issued as of yet with regards to the number of people who have been laid off as a result of the COVID-19 situation within businesses,” Farrugia said.

Most companies are making sure to resort to other means to mitigate the impact of the Coronavirus on their business. Thus “the consequent reduction in work is being carried out through forced leave, teleworking, flexible hours, and there are also cases of unpaid leave or extra leave which is partially being paid by the employer,” Farrugia said.

He added that “the sooner the government announces a relief package for businesses, the better. This will allow them to curb redundancies and reduce uncertainty to their employees.” In this surreal situation it is very “difficult to predict the severity and the duration of this crisis, and for many businesses it is also very difficult to predict what the full impact will be in the coming weeks or even months.”

Farrugia added that “the main priority is to keep the virus from spreading.”

“Although we have no control over the virus itself, what happens now – both in terms of public health and the economic impact – will certainly depend on the actions we take.” He added that “it is imperative that relief measures are issued immediately to keep people in employment as much as possible.”

Furthermore, this outbreak has led a number of companies to reduce hours for part-time employees. However, Farrugia said that “legally, part-timers within a company have the same rights as full-time employees, and the principle of last in first out will also apply to them. This policy is used in collective redundancies, whereby the most junior employees, by time of service, are selected for redundancy over those that have been at the company for a longer period.

Farrugia added that “in many cases casual employees, and possibly seasonal workers are the first to be laid off in such a situation.”

“Whether employers are laying off foreign workers before Maltese ones is very much dependent on their contracts of employment but regardless of this, foreign workers have to be addressed and treated with the dignity they deserve,” Farrugia said.

Foreign employees who are on an indefinite period contract have the same rights as Maltese employees. Whilst foreign employees on a definite period contract will have to be paid, one half (1/2) of the remaining period of the contract if it is ended prematurely.

Farrugia added that “foreign workers are major contributors to Malta’s economic growth and well-being. Therefore, we do not afford to look at them as a raw material which can be used and disposed of.”

“Besides being devoid of any economic sense such actions goes against our values as a society,” he said.

Asked whether employers will make up for this in the future, Farrugia said that “the better the measures and the willingness to retain people in jobs, the faster the economic recovery will be in the months following this crisis in the country.”

Farrugia expressed his full admiration to the health workers who are on the front line and are valiantly doing their absolute best in such circumstances.