Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 1) - Malta (Ratification: 1988)

Article 2 of the Convention. Limits to hours of work. Further to its previous comment on the opt-out clause contained in section 20 of the Organisation of Working Time Regulations, 2004, the Committee notes that the Government's report does not contain any new information in this regard. The Committee recalls that this section of the Regulations which provides that the statutory limits on working time shall not apply in relation to a worker who has agreed with his employer in writing that these limits should not apply, allows for exceptions to the standards of 8 hours a day and 48B hours a week under conditions that go far beyond those prescribed by the Convention. It therefore requests the Government to take the necessary measures to bring section 20 of the Organisation of Working Time Regulations into full conformity with the requirements of the Convention.

Articles 2(b) and (c), 4, and 5. Variable distribution of working hours. The Committee notes that the Government does not communicate any new information regarding its previous comments on section 7 of the Organization of Working Time Regulations, 2004, which foresees the averaging of working hours over reference periods going up to 52 weeks, with no specified exceptional circumstances for resorting to it. The Committee recalls that the averaging of hours of work in general is authorized in the Convention over a reference period of one week, provided that a daily limit of nine hours is respected (Article 2(b)); in all the other cases in which the averaging of working hours is allowed over reference periods longer than a week, the circumstances are clearly specified, as follows: (i) in case of shift work, it shall be permissible to employ persons in excess of 8 hours in any one day and 48 hours in any one week, if the average number of hours over a period of three weeks or less does not exceed 8 per day and 48 per week (Article 2(c)); (ii) in those processes which are required by reason of the nature of the process to be carried on continuously by a succession of shifts, the daily and weekly limit of hours of work may be exceeded subject to the condition that the working hours shall not exceed 56 in the week on the average (Article 4); and (iii) in exceptional cases where it is recognized that the limits of 8 hours a day and 48 hours a week cannot be applied, but only in such cases, agreements between workers' and employers' organisations concerning the daily limit of work over a longer period of time may be given the force of regulations, provided that the average number of hours worked per week, over the number of weeks covered by any such agreement, shall not exceed 48 (ArticleB 5). Recalling that calculating hours of work as an average over a reference period of up to one year allows for too many exceptions to normal hours of work and can result in highly variable working hours over long periods, long working days and the absence of compensation (2018 General Survey on working time instruments, paragraph 68), the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to bring section 7 of the Organization of Working Time Regulations, 2004 in conformity with the requirements of the Convention.

The Committee raises other questions in a request addressed directly to the Government.