Government employees working at Karin Grech and St Luke's Hospital, both run by Steward Health Care, will no longer have their sick leave benefit deducted following the successful intervention of UĦM Voice of the Workers, the union said in a statement.

“Under this illegal practice in breach of the employment law, employees reporting sick leave for four days or more were only being paid for the first three days. Consequently, in case of long-term illness, employees were suffering from a pay cut.”

 UĦM Voice of the Workers had warned Steward to stop this practice, or else the Union would be taking further steps. “The abuse had come to light after workers who had been ill for more than three days had found a note in their payslip saying that sickness benefit had been deducted. By law Government workers receive sick leave payment directly from their employer and are eligible for at least 30 days of sick leave annually. In its reaction, Steward had denied that it was deducting the sick leave benefit and had even threatened legal action against the union.”

“However, UĦM Voice of the Workers can confirm that Steward has accepted its request to stop such practice. As a matter of fact, Steward ordered that government workers must be paid the sick leave benefit in full, specifically in cases whereby the employee is reports sick for more than the three days, in line with the union’s demand.”

Steward Health Care had previously denied any wrongdoing, and said that the particular situation was relevant only to Karin Grech Hospital government employees and not to those working in other Steward-managed hospitals like the Gozo General Hospital.

It had added that the matter pertinent to Karin Grech Hospital is the result of years of government legacy practices, and is not related to the taking over of the management by Steward Malta.