The number of fathers taking paternity leave in the private sector has spiked over one year – increasing from 429 dads in 2023 to 679 last year.
This is the first time that figures for leave uptake in the private sector has been collected.
There is no central base that collects data about leave taken in the private sector. This is available for the public sector.
However, in 2022, the government made changes to leave entitlement of parents and issued the Maternity Leave Trust Fund, through which employers in the private sector are entitled to certain reimbursements for leave such as maternity, paternity and parental leave.
As a result of this fund, since 2023, data for the private sector has been collected. However, this might not portray the full picture as some private employers might have not availed of the fund.
Yet, till now, the data offers the only glimpse into private sector leave.
It showed that, within the private sector, 106 parents benefited from parental leave through the fund in 2023 and this increased to 191 in 2024.
Times of Malta recently reported how data for the public sector showed that 87 fathers and 4,458 mothers took parental leave between 2014 and 2023.
Mothers entitled to 18 weeks
In Malta, mothers are entitled to 18 weeks of maternity leave, which are fully paid to the 14th week, and then remunerated at a lower rate for the last four weeks.
Since 2022, fathers are being granted 10 days (up from one day) of paid paternity leave. That was the year the fund was created.
After the maternity and paternity leave period, both parents are entitled to four months of parental leave, of which two months are paid at sick pay level while the rest are unpaid. The daily sick pay levels are €23.03 (married) or €14.92 (single) in 2023.
Parental leave that can be staggered until the child turns eight is granted at the discretion of employers and may be refused for a justifiable reason on their part. Workers in the public sector enjoy longer parental leave of 12 months.
Parental leave was one of the topics explored in a recent study conducted by professors Anna Borg and Liberato Camilleri and commissioned by the National Commission for the Promotion of Equality (NCPE).
The study recommended that parental leave should be extended to six months on full pay and offered on a “use-it-or-lose-it” basis to encourage both parents to take advantage of this leave.