Good policy but bad implementation
The introduction of a maternity leave fund in July 2015 was a good policy aimed at ending gender discrimination in the workforce. Employers pay 0.3 per cent of the basic pay for every employee to build up a fund from which the 14-week maternity leave will be paid.
Making it easier for female workers to find the right balance between family and work commitments is a good strategy. Spreading the cost of family-friendly measures is the right tactic. However, getting tangled in a bureaucratic maze that penalises employers is bad execution that threatens to eliminate the benefits of good policy.
The Malta Employers’ Association has complained that, so far, employers have had to pay twice for the maternity leave granted to employees by contributing 0.3 per cent to the maternity leave fund and still giving entitled staff the statutory maternity pay. The MEA’s director general, Joseph Farrugia, is right in not tolerating delays in payments from the fund.
The maternity fund board says it wants to ensure “full transparency” and that “this had led to no refunds being issued yet, despite employers paying their contributions for 10 months”. The need for full transparency is mandatory for any...