Fathers will be receiving 10 days paid leave on the birth of their child, whilst parental leave will be split into two months paid leave and two months unpaid.

Parliamentary Secretary for Social Dialogue Andy Ellul announced the new legislative changes reforming Malta’s paternal and parental leave laws, which will extend a father’s paid paternal leave from the one day of leave offered by the current law to 10 days.

The legislative package will come into effect on 2 August and government will finance all measures until 2023. The private sector will have to contribute its share towards financing as from 1 January 2024.

Parents will also now be entitled to two months paid leave at the national parental leave rate and will also benefit from another two months of unpaid leave which will be transferable from one parent to another.

Parental paid leave may be taken gradually across the first eight years of parenthood, and in the first four years, parents must take 50% of the paid leave, equivalent to four weeks.

The new law also says that between the fourth and sixth years, parents can take two weeks paid leave, whilst the remaining two weeks of paid leave can be taken between the sixth and eighth years.

During the first eight years of their children’s lives, parents will also have the right to ask for flexible working arrangements.

Government will also be introducing a “carers’ leave” which allows parents to take unpaid leave to take care of an unwell family member or someone in the family who needs caring for. This will entail a total of five days unpaid leave and will not be taken from the individual’s own personal or sick leave. This form of leave will be available for people to take care of someone living in the same residence as them.

The new laws reflect the EU Work-Life Balance Directive which grants European citizens several minimum rights for work-life balance. As an EU Member State, Malta was required to transpose the above measures into law by 2 August this year.

Malta was required as an EU Member State to transpose the above measures into law by 2 August this year.

Nationalist MP David Casa, who was the European Parliament's lead negotiator of the Work-Life Balance Directive, said that the law will grant unprecedented rights for Maltese and Gozitan families.

“These rights will result in a better work-life balance that will improve families’ quality of life, improve opportunities for mothers in the workplace, improve gender equality, and bring a positive impact on the Maltese and Gozitan economies,” he said.

Casa explained that the Directive sets the minimum standards for work life balance measures in the European Union. He noted, however, that the Maltese Government opted for the “bare minimum.”

“The Directive sets out the minimum. I would have liked to see more initiative on the part of the Government, in line with the proposals pushed by Partit Nazzjonalista. Our families certainly deserve it.”

Casa regretted that the Maltese Government waited until the last moment to give families rights that could have been implemented as early as 2019.

Casa expressed his concern about how the new measures will be financed after 2023, after the Government announced that the private sector will be involved in financing the measures.

“While the impact of the work life balance measures will undoubtedly have a positive impact on the economy, it was always my hope that it would be Government that funds such a vital step for our working families.

“We need more detail as to how this will be implemented.”