Arriva drivers who fail to deposit the full amount of money from daily ticket sales will be fined €50. Photo: Jason Borg

Arriva employees are facing punitive fines for misdemeanours ranging from tardiness to smoking on buses.

The public transport operator informed its personnel of the new fines in a memo dated April 11, which was seen by The Sunday Times.

It stated that “the company has been given authorisation” to levy the charges.

Arriva said the fines were approved by the Director of Labour last year and were in line with the law and the company’s agreement with Transport Malta.

Under the new system, Arriva will impose a €20 fine on employees who report for work late and €50 on staff members who fail to deposit the full amount of money from ticket sales on a daily basis.

We were not informed this was about to happen- GWU

Reporting back late from break will result in a €10 penalty, while employees will be hit with €5 fines for smoking on company premises, including in vehicles, and not displaying an identity tag.

Visible tattoos and piercings will incur a fine of €25 and “breaking barriers” in the depot will result in a €50 charge.

Drivers will also have to pay the full amount stated in traffic contravention tickets for which they are responsible.

Fines will be deducted from employees’ wages, the memo stated.

An Arriva spokesman said the fines were intended to encourage drivers to improve standards in line with their contracts.

This will “consequently improve the service we deliver to our customers in punctuality and presentation of our drivers and vehicles,” the spokesman added.

The Sunday Times was informed about the fines after being copied in to an e-mail to Arriva management from someone claiming to be an Arriva employee.

The author of the e-mail wrote that he was taking legal advice about the penalty system. He added that Arriva had not provided employees with copies of their working conditions.

Charles Agius, section secretary at the General Workers’ Union, which represents a majority of Arriva personnel, said he was seeking further explanations from the public transport operator and the Director of Labour about the new punitive system.

“We were not informed this was about to happen. We would have expected to be notified before these fines were announced,” he said.

Fines were on the agenda in discussions between the union and Arriva on last year’s collective agreement, Mr Agius admitted. It was decided that if they were introduced, suspected offenders would appear before a disciplinary board before being penalised.

Arriva did not respond yesterday to questions on whether employees would go before a disciplinary board before fines were imposed and if they had provided their staff with copies of their working conditions.

pcooke@timesofmalta.com