Employers will start paying a maternity leave contribution equivalent to 30c per €100 for every employee in a move to end discrimination between men and women.

The new system will kick in next month and the money collected will be placed in a trust fund to pay maternity leave in the private sector.

Private employers will receive a refund from the fund for wages paid to women who take 14 weeks maternity leave.

The new system will not change the way employees on maternity leave are paid. Women will still get paid from their employer the full wage for the first 14 weeks and a flat rate by the government for another four weeks of maternity leave.

Equal Opportunities Minister Helena Dalli said the move will eliminate the tacit discrimination against women when they applied for a job.

Employment law prohibits discrimination based on gender but it is an open secret that some employers prefer not to engage women so as not to pay wages for the period they are out on maternity leave.

As things stand today, the burden falls on the employer to pay the full wage for 14 weeks.

“The new system means that employers have to make a financial contribution irrespective of whether employees are men or women and it alleviates the burden on individual companies by spreading it out on all private employers,” she said.

The Maternity Leave Trust Fund was officially rolled out yesterday in the presence of members of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development.

The fund will be supervised by a board composed of three employers and one trade union representative, together with the permanent secretaries in the ministries of finance and employment relations.

Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said the fund will be financed by the private sector and used solely by private companies, since the government would continue to pay the entitlement to its own employees.

He said the government would also continue to pay the additional four weeks maternity leave for all workers at a flat rate – there would be no change to the current system.

Prof. Scicluna said this measure was another in a string of decisions taken to encourage greater female participation in the workforce.

Asked whether the government would consider increasing paternity leave from the current two days to equal that of women – 18 weeks – Prof. Scicluna said there were internal talks but these were at a very early stage.

Dr Dalli said true equality would be reached when men and women had the same amount of parental leave. “Talks are still some way off but we have to also evaluate options such as parental leave sharing.”

Entitlement

• 14 weeks on full pay – financed by the employer;

• 4 weeks at flat rate – financed by the government.

• Employer will now be able to claim back the 14 weeks’ pay from a centralised fund to which they have to contribute at a rate of 0.3% of the basic wage for every employee.

kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com