Employers were being charged maternity contributions twice and should be refunded, the Malta Employers Association said.

It said that although employers had been paying 0.3 per cent of their wages and salaries bill into the Maternity Leave Trust Fund since July, no refunds had been issued as yet and there was no established mechanism to settle the overdue payments.

“As things stand, employers are being charged double as they are paying both the contributions in the trust fund as well as the full pay during the maternity leave," the MEA said.

It urged the government to refund employers the maternity leave benefits they were due from the Maternity Leave Trust Fund.

The fund was set up in July 2015 with the intention of ending gender discrimination in the workforce. It requires employers to contribute the equivalent of 0.3 per cent of the basic pay for every employee, irrespective of gender, to build up a fund from which the 14-week maternity leave will be paid.

“This is another instance where measures are introduced without any thought being given to their implementation.

“The association is demanding that the necessary bureaucratic measures are taken to expedite these payments,” the MEA said.