The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry said that it “strongly opposes the proposed concession for parents to take their sick leave to attend to their children when they are unwell.”

Adding that “in the Chamber’s view, this proposal serves to institutionalise an injustice against employers. The introduction of such work practices will serve to erode further Malta’s competitiveness and potential for growth.”

The Chamber said it “regards sick leave as a concession and not a right. It comes at a cost to the employer and it should not be exploited or trivialised. It is available for employees to avail of when they are genuinely unfit to attend for work. Ample annual leave is available and should be used in order to attend to family responsibilities.

“Whilst employers endeavour to be flexible and compassionate with their staff, this measure will pose additional burdens not only for them but also for other employees. The measure could bring about a perverse effect in that it may encourage workers to report to work when they are sick in an effort to “save” their sick-leave entitlement for when their children are unwell. Again, this would be unfair to the employer and fellow workers.”

The Chamber pointed out that “the cost of this measure will further erode the competitiveness of both SMEs and larger companies alike and will continue to exacerbate economic problems. Companies with a small number of employees will feel the effect disproportionately. Besides, the proposal can serve as a dangerous precedent as attempts could then follow to extend the scope of the measure.”

The Malta Chamber said it has in the past years been actively involved in discussions on family friendly measures and has presented its proposals to a specially appointed MCESD Working Group.

The Chamber continued by saying it is in favour of family friendly measures and its proposals were intended at finding the right balance between granting reasonable flexibility to workers and incurring losses in competitiveness due to business disruption and financial cost.

For this reason, the Malta Chamber emphasises “that the national policy must place particular emphasis on measures that discourage absenteeism and promote people at the place of work.”

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