Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 1) - Malta (Ratification: 1988)

Article 2 of the Convention. General standard on maximum limits on hours of work. In its previous comment, the Committee had noted that section 20 of the Organization of Working Time Regulations, 2004, permits exceptions to the general standard of eight hours a day and 48 hours a week under conditions that go beyond those prescribed by the Convention and that, in any event, exceptions to maximum limits on hours of work based on individual agreement are not consistent with either the letter or the spirit of the Convention. In addition, while the Convention explicitly stipulates that the maximum of additional hours in each instance of exceptions must be fixed by regulations made by public authority, the possibility to opt-out in writing based on the worker’s prior consent is not framed by any specific limit on weekly, monthly or annual working hours in the legislation. The Committee notes that the Government’s most recent report contains no information on this issue. The Committee therefore wishes once again to refer to paragraph 144 of its General Survey of 2005 on hours of work in which it stated that, although the establishment of specific limits to the total number of additional hours is left to the competent authorities, this does not mean that such authorities have an unlimited discretion in this regard. Such limits must be “reasonable” and they must be prescribed in line with the general goal of the Convention, namely to establish the eight hour day and 48-hour week as a legal standard of hours of work in order to provide protection against undue fatigue and to ensure reasonable leisure and opportunities for recreation and social life. Moreover, the Committee previously noted that the same point had been raised by the European Committee of Social Rights which, in its 2007 conclusions, found that the situation in Malta was not in conformity with article 2(1) of the European Social Charter due to the absence of limits on overtime and of the guarantee of the worker’s right to reasonable working hours. The Committee requests once again the Government to indicate the measures it intends to take in order to bring the national legislation into full conformity with the requirements of the Convention.

Article 5. Averaging of hours of work. In its previous comment, the Committee had recalled that the Convention allows for the variable distribution of hours of work over a period longer than a week only in exceptional cases where it is recognized that the general standard of Article 2 cannot be applied and where an agreement between workers’ and employers’ organizations has been concluded and given the force of regulations made by public authority. In this regard, the Committee had noted that section 7 of the Organization of Working Time Regulations, which does not limit the averaging of working hours to any specified exceptional cases, was not in conformity with the provisions of Article 5. The Government’s most recent report contains no information on this issue. The Committee requests once again the Government to indicate any measures taken or envisaged in order to give full effect to this Article of the Convention.

Article 8(1). Posting of notices. In its previous comment, the Committee had noted the Government’s statement that no specific provision had been made in the labour legislation for the notification of work schedules by means of posting of notices in conspicuous places at the workplace. It also noted the Government’s reference to the Information to Employees Regulations (L.N. 431 of 2002, as amended by L.N. 427 of 2007), which required every employer to give each employee, within eight working days from the commencement of employment, various information regarding employment conditions, including the normal hours of work. The Government’s most recent report contains no new information on this issue. The Committee requests once again the Government to indicate any measures it intends to take in order to give full effect to this Article of the Convention.