Government employees working in the three hospitals run by Steward Health Care, including at the Gozo General Hospital, are not being paid sick leave in full, which is in violation of the employment law, UHM – Voice of the Workers has said.

In a statement, UHM said that whenever employees are on sick leave for four or more days, they are only paid for the first three days. “Consequently, in the event of long-term illness, employees are receiving reduced pay.”

The UHM went on to say that it was “alerted to this illegal practice through its members who discovered this deduction from their payslip. Those who took sick leave for more than three days had a note saying the sickness benefit had been deducted.”

“By law government workers receive sick leave payment from their employer and are eligible for at least 30 days sick leave a year,” UHM Voice of the Workers stated. The union then accused Steward Health Care of “violating the provisions of the Employment and Industrial Relations Act, specifically that on wage protection.”

The UHM also questioned the reason behind this move, particularly as Steward Health Care receives the full amount of employees ’wages from the government. “This is another example by which Steward is taking advantage of illegally held money,” the union said.

The UHM Voice of the Workers concluded by calling on the Health Ministry “to stop this illegal practice immediately and give back the money that is due to the workers by the end of this week.”

Photo by Anthony Zammit

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