By Désirée Attard, published on April 30, 2025
As of the 4th of April 2025, employees in Malta now enjoy a minimum of 32 hours of paid urgent family leave per year.1
This legal amendment marks a remarkable increase. Previously, employees were entitled to only fifteen hours of urgent family leave per year. Positively, the new allowance is clearly defined as a minimum bar – meaning employers have the discretion to introduce even more advantageous conditions to improve work-life balance for their employees.
The Legal Notice further clarifies that the first sixteen hours of said leave are to be deducted from the employee’s annual leave entitlement, while the remaining sixteen hours are to be deducted from the employee’s annual sick leave entitlement.
This amendment and right applies to both full- and part-time employees, on a pro-rata basis.
What is Urgent Family Leave?
In accordance with Maltese employment law, employees are entitled to time off from work for urgent family reasons in cases of sickness or accident, that is, circumstances which cannot be foreseen and cannot be notified to the employer in advance.
These circumstances include accidents, sudden illness, as well as births or deaths of immediate family members. The law considers immediate family to include the employee’s parents, spouse, and children, whether living with them or otherwise.
Employers can get in touch to explore how internal policies on leave should be amended to reflect this legal amendment.
Employees can get in touch for more information on their rights at law as employees in Malta.
—
This article does not constitute legal advice. While all efforts are made to ensure that the information provided on this website is up to date, some information, material, or content may not be the most recent. For personal legal advice, we kindly ask that you contact us for an appointment.
- Legal Notice 28 of 2025. ↩︎