Abandonment Of Employment And Maternity Leave

On 4 March 2020, prior to the Maltese courts' closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Court of Magistrates decided a case wherein an employer claimed that a former employee had abandoned work within six months of returning from statutory maternity and, as such, claimed back all of the wage payments that it had made to her during that time pursuant to Maltese law.

Facts

The plaintiff company filed a claim against a former employee in order to retrieve the wages paid to her during her maternity leave period as per Article 36(20)(1) of the Employment and Industrial Relations Act.(2)

The defendant rejected the claim, arguing that she had not willingly resigned or abandoned her employment. Rather, she alleged that she had effectively been terminated by her employer since, on her return from maternity leave: