Workers employed by temping and outsourcing agencies will - as of next year - have the right to immediate equal pay and work conditions, as other employees working in the company they are assigned to.

The legal notice comes into force in January 2025 but the government made the announcement on Monday - just five days before the electorate heads to the polls.

The Equal Pay for Work of Equal Value directive will be published in the government gazette on Tuesday to allow employers time to adjust.

Employers can start applying the law immediately if they want to.

In Malta, workers employed directly by an entity are already protected and entitled to equal pay for equal work.

Through this legal notice, this right will now be extended to temping and outsourcing agencies.

Temping agencies dispatch workers to companies for temporary periods - such as a secretary who is needed for a number of months to fill in a gap in an office. In this case, working conditions of the worker falls under the company she or he is working for.

Outsourcing agencies, which operate like contractors, outsource their workers to companies. Examples include cleaners and carers. In this case, control of the worker remains with the outsourcing agency.

The legal notice applies to all workers, whether they are on a definite or indefinite contract.

It gives them the right to get paid at the same rate as the employees of the place where they are sent to work.

If the pay rate is lower than the one given by the outsourcing agency, the worker will get the higher pay.

Workers will also be entitled to the same work conditions such as breaks, overtime and allowances.

The legal notice also does away with a provision that allows four weeks to pass before equal pay and conditions start being given. It must now happen immediately.

Workers who feel wronged by an employer will be able to take the matter to an industrial tribunal.

Addressing the media at General Softdrinks in Marsa, Prime Minister Robert Abela said this legal notice was another step towards fulfilling the electoral promise to extend the principle of equal pay for work of equal value.

This was already in place in the public sector and was now being extended to the private sector.

“Workers deserve to be treated equally… irrespective of who they are and where they come from,” he said adding that this legal notice followed a social dialogue process with all stakeholders.

He spoke about the importance of safeguarding the country’s human resources whom he said were among the most valuable.

Social dialogue parliamentary secretary Andy Ellul said that through various reforms and regulations rolled out over the years, the government had better visibility of the workers on the books of temping and outsourcing agencies.

Referring to the laws regulating temping agencies, he said this legal notice is the next step to ensure equality while maintaining a balance between the rights of workers and employers.