Working group to advise on rule changes

The government has set up a working group to identify how the local employment regulations need to be changed with regard to fixed-term contracts.

The working group was established following a declaration made by the European Union that local rules governing definite contract workers within the public service are not in conformity with an EU directive on fixed-term contracts of service.

According to the directive, all employees in the EU who have been working on a fixed-term contract for a number of years, four in Malta's case, are entitled to be given an indefinite contract of employment.

Hundreds of employees within the public service, which also includes authorities and other government agencies, are currently employed on fixed-term contracts.

A spokesman for the government told The Times yesterday that the issue is being dealt with by the Office of the Principal Permanent Secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister.

However, the spokesman made it clear that the changes will not necessarily mean that all government employees employed on a fixed-term contract will be switched to an indefinite and permanent agreement.

"Unfortunately, there are many misconceptions about the subject. Not all public employees who are at present employed on a fixed-term agreement will qualify for an indefinite contract. A case in point is related to those government employees, most of them in senior managerial positions, who currently occupy a higher grade because of a performance agreement. These are originally government employees at lower grades and thus their status will not change."

The committee, chaired by Principal Permanent Secretary Godwin Grima, includes representatives from the Management and Personnel Office and the Ministry of Education. It is looking at who, among the current government fixed-term workers, will qualify under the provisions of the EU directive.

The spokesman said that the EU directive makes reference to "objective reasons" for public service employees to qualify for an indefinite contract and thus not everyone will qualify.

"We are currently trying to come up with objective criteria and set the rules accompanying the implementation of this directive. At that stage everyone will know his eligibility or not."

After the Association of Local Council Secretaries raised a complaint about the situation, it transpired that the directive was not being completely respected in Malta. When this EU regulation was transposed into the national law books, an article was included so that public sector employees will not be covered by this regulation.

Following an investigation by the EU, last month the Maltese government informed the European Commission that it will repeal the article concerning public sector employees.

In a letter sent to the association, the Commission said the Maltese government had already prepared a legal notice to this effect and will be implementing the necessary changes following consultations with the social partners.