Work and Employment Services

The Guarantee Fund is intended to guarantee payment of unpaid wages due by an employer, to those employees whose employment is terminated because of the employer’s proved insolvency. Insolvency is when an individual or organization can no longer meet its financial obligations.

The employee binds himself to reimburse the Fund with a sum equivalent to the amount paid out of the Fund by the Administration Board in respect of the claim made by the employee from any amounts retrieved from any court proceedings or from any settlement received from a liquidator, as the case may be.

Any person who is found guilty of registering a false claim for unpaid amounts or who is found guilty of acting in collusion with an employer or an employee in order to obtain payments from the Fund, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine (multa) which is equivalent to ten times the amount paid out of the Fund, together with any other punishment to which the offender shall be liable according to any other applicable law.

A confirmation that the claim has been received. If the claim is approved by the Guarantee Fund Administration Board, applicable payment will be received accordingly.

Any employee whose employer has been declared insolvent by the courts is entitled to apply for the fund.

Employees are not entitled to the fund if they are:
• private domestic servants;
• share-fishermen; and
• an employee who, on his or her own or together with his or her parents, spouse, children or siblings, was the owner or part owner of the employer’s undertaking or business and had a considerable influence on its activities.

Every individual employee may register a claim limited to the unpaid amounts due for unpaid wages, which shall consist of the basic wage for the relevant unpaid period, any unpaid overtime, arrears for any leave entitlement for the current and preceding calendar year, and any notice money due in accordance with the laws of Malta.

The claim registered by every individual employee shall refer to unpaid amounts which were due for wages payable within 6 months preceding the date of the onset of insolvency of the employer or preceding the termination of employment. These unpaid amounts shall in no case exceed a sum which is equivalent to 13 weeks’ national minimum wage payable at the time of the termination of employment of such employee.

Fill in the online form and submit.

In order to apply for the fund the employee shall register a valid claim for unpaid wages with the Administration Board within 2 months from the onset of the insolvency of the employer. The employee will then provide certified evidence that he has registered a valid claim for the unpaid wages in the insolvency proceedings of the employer and with the Department for Industrial and Employment Relations.

The Administration Board may request any information from any person to enable it to perform its obligations, and it shall be the duty of any such person to cooperate fully with the Administration Board.