Employment Contracts

What is a contract of employment?

A contract of employment is a verbal or written agreement in which a person agrees to provide service to, or to do work for, an employer in return of wages. As a result, even if, an employee, is never given a written copy of the contract of employment, the employee and employer still have a legal and enforceable verbal agreement. It is, however, always preferable to have a written contract of employment.

Important Employment Formalities

Ideally, the employer should provide the contract of employment, however, if it is not provided within a few days of starting work, an employee should request a written contract.

If no contract has yet been written or signed, the employer is bound to send to the employee, a letter of engagement or a signed statement, but not later than eight working days from the commencement of employment. On the other hand, if a written contract of employment has been signed between both parties, the employer is bound to deliver to the employee a signed copy of the agreement by not later than eight working days from the date of the contract.

A work contract should ensure that the statutory conditions of employment are followed, i.e. that the contract conditions abide by the law on employment. While certain employment conditions are strictly regulated by law, other conditions are entirely up to the employer and the employee to agree on, as long as they are also considered objectively reasonable.

The law seeks to protect the employee, as conditions in the contract of employment which are less favourable to the employee than those established by law or regulations shall not be enforceable, and such conditions in the contract of employment shall be replaced by those conditions specified under the law.

What should an employment contract include?

The employer is required to provide you with a signed statement (in the absence of a written contract) or a contract of employment that includes the following information:

• the name, registration number and registered place of business of the employer and a legally valid identification document number, sex and address of the employee and the place of work. In the absence of a fixed place of work, it should be stated that the employee will be employed at various places together with the registered place of business. If there is no registered place of business, the domicile of the employer is to be stated;
• the date of commencement of employment;
• the period of probation;
• the normal rates of wages payable;
• the overtime rates of wages payable;
• the normal hours of work;
• the periodicity of wage payments;
• in the case of a fixed or definite contract of employment, the expected or agreed duration of the contract period;
• the paid holidays, and the vacation, sick and other leave to which the employee is entitled;
• the conditions under which fines may be imposed by the employer;
• the title, grade, nature or category of work for which the employee is employed;
• the notice periods to be observed by the employer and the employee should it be the case;
• the collective agreement, if any, governing the employee’s conditions of work; and any other relevant or applicable condition of employment;
• any other relevant or applicable condition of employment, whether agreed between the parties or otherwise required to be specified by any applicable law.

The above is to be provided to the employee by the employer within eight working days from the commencement of the employment.

If employment contracts are silent on certain minimum working conditions or duties of both the employer and the employee, as defined by Maltese law, such minimum conditions will be deemed implied in the employment contract.

Changes your employment contract

Though an employment contract may be altered after its conclusion, any changes made may only be effected with the consent of both the employer and the employee.

If case of changes to an employment contract, the employer is required to notify you, as an employee, of the relevant changes by means of a signed statement delivered to you no later than eight working days after the changes take effect.

If such amendments are agreed to in writing between the parties in the form of an addendum to the original employment contract, a signed copy of such addendum must also be delivered to you within the eight-working-day period.

Any amendment or modification to employment conditions as a result of a change in any applicable laws, regulations, or collective agreement does not require the employer to notify the employee as previously stated.

However, an employer is exempt from notifying you about amendments to employment conditions resulting from a change in any applicable laws, regulations or collective agreements. Nevertheless, your employer should maintain an open and regular channel of communication with you on any legislative or regulatory developments that may affect your employment.