Amendment to reduce annual leave to 20 days to be recalled

Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) has decided to recall their amendment to the Employment Act which proposes to reduce the current annual leave of 30 days to 20 days for employees with under 10 years of service.

The amendment was proposed by PPM Parliamentary Group Member, Maavashu MP Abdul Azeez Jamaal Aboobakuru. Following an order by the party’s parliamentary group to recall the amendment, MP Abdul Azeez said that he has now informed the party’s parliamentary group leader MP Abdulla Yameen that he will recall the amendment today.

Speaking to Sun, MP Abdul Azeez Jamaal Aboobakuru said that the bill was decided to be recalled after a number of sources expressed concern regarding the nature of the amendment.

He said that the reports circulating in the media have mislead the public, and that the purpose of the bill is not solely to limit annual leave, but rather to solve the problems arising from taking annual leave, such as being forced to forego certain salaries and allowances.

“I proposed the bill for the benefit of the employees and for the good of the country. However, the media had highlighted certain points in the bill, and had caused the public to reject it,” Maavashu MP Abdul Azeez Jamaal Aboobakuru stated.

The amendment proposed to Article 39 of the Employment Act states that an employee may be granted 20 days of annual leave for the first 5 consecutive years of service, an annual leave of 25 days for employees serving between 5 and 10 years, an annual leave of 30 days for employees with more than 10 years of service, and an annual leave of 35 days for employees with more than 20 years of service.

Article 39 of the Employment Act currently states that all employees with 1 year of service are entitled to 30 days of annual leave.

The amendment bill proposes Article 41 (a) of the Employment Act to be changed to allow that, if an employee was unable to go for annual leave or chose to differ the annual leave, the bulk leave of aggregate including previous year's annual leave may be granted to the employee. It also limits the maximum period of accumulation of annual leave to two consecutive years.

The amendment bill proposes Article 41 (a) of the Employment Act to be changed to allow that, if an employee was unable to go for annual leave or chose to differ the annual leave, the bulk leave of aggregate including previous year's annual leave maybe granted to the employee. It also limits the maximum period of accumulation of annual leave to two consecutive years.

The amendment also proposes to increase the maximum amounts of sick leave days to 35 days per year. The law currently grants 30 days per year.