What does the term ‘class’ mean?

Maltese law currently speaks of ‘classes’ of employees.

When used in the context of a group or a category of employees, the term refers to the groups or categories listed in a collective agreement.

Where there is no collective agreement, or where a collective agreement does not stipulate groups or categories of employees, the term refers to the work performed or expected to be performed independently of the title or name given to the post.

The defined term is relevant when an employer is

• determining salary structures applicable to ‘classes’

• assessing the LIFO criteria in a redundancy;

• ensuring equality between ‘classes’.

Have you ever stopped to think of the ‘classes’ in your employment organisation? If not, it will definitely pay you to do so, hopefully not because of any redundancies, but to ensure compliance with equal pay and transparency obligations.

Mind you, the EU Directive, once transposed, might give way to some changes in these defined terms. In fact, the Directive does not speak about ‘classes’ but refers to a different concept of ‘category of workers’, that is workers performing the same work or work of equal value grouped in a non-arbitrary manner based on the non-discriminatory and objective gender-neutral criteria. The manner to determine this is regulated in the Directive.