Employers are still waiting for instructions on how to apply for refunds for their contributions to the Maternity Leave Trust Fund launched a year ago, it has emerged.

The fund, launched in July last year, was set up by the government in an attempt to end gender discrimination. Employers across the board contribute the equivalent of 0.3 per cent of the basic pay for every employee, irrespective of their gender, to build up the fund.

They should then be refunded for the wages paid to any employees who take the 14-week maternity leave.

While employers have been paying into the fund for the past 12 months, they have yet to be refunded any wages.

The board in charge of the fund had yet to issue any information

According to a Malta Employers’ Association spokesman, the board in charge of the fund had yet to issue any information, although it was told that a claim form was being drafted which should be available soon.

Earlier this year, the association called on the government to address the issue, saying that despite the legislation being in place since last year, the employers were still in the dark as it seemed there was no system in place yet.

The association said it would instruct its workers to stop paying into the fund unless progress were made. Asked whether the association would be issue such instructions, the spokesman said it would put this on hold at the moment given that the claim form was being worked on. Employers have complained that until they were issued refunds, they were paying double: paying their employees’ full pay during maternity leave as well the percentage going into the fund.