PUBLIC TRANSPORT (REGULATION OF EMPLOYMENT)   _g CAP. 214.     1
CHAPTER 214 
PUBLIC TRANSPORT (REGULATION OF 
EMPLOYMENT) ACT
To make special regulations in respect of public transport employees.
17th March, 1970
ACT IV of 1970, as amended by Legal Notice 148 of 1975; Acts XIII of
1983, IX of 1989; VIII of 1990; Legal Notice 164 of 1990; and Act XXIII of
2000.
Short title.
(Regulation of Employment) Act.
Interpretation. 
Amended by: 
IX. 1989.29;
XXIII. 2000.30.  
Cap. 232.
2. (1)  In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires -
"the Authority" means the Malta Transport Authority established
under the Malta Transport Authority Act;
"the Board" means the Public Transport Labour Board referred to
in article 3;
"enactment" means any law or other instrument having the force
of law and includes a national standard order, any relevant wage
regulation order and the relevant contract of service;
"the Minister" means the Minister responsible for public
transport, and includes any person authorised by such Minister in
that behalf but in article 4 it has the meaning assigned to it by
subarticle (2) of this article;
"the officer" means the public officer designated to act as Public
Transport Control Officer under article 4;
"public transport employee" means a person employed in the
conveyance of passengers by motor omnibus licensed to ply for
hire on public service routes and includes an inspector, driver,
conductor, ticket seller and ticket booth attendant so employed;
"wages" includes any remuneration in respect of overtime and of
any period during which the employee is not granted leave to which
he is entitled.
Cap. 452.
(2) Save as provided in subarticle (1), words and phrases which
occur in the Employment and Industrial Relations Act, have in this
Act the same meaning as they have in that Act.
Public Transport 
Labour Board.  
Amended by: 
L.N. 148 of 1975; 
IX. 1989.29; 
VIII. 1990.3; 
L.N. 164 of 1990;
XXIII. 2000.30.
Cap. 232.
3. (1) The Public Transport Labour Board established by
article 30 of the Malta Transport Authority Act shall have the
following functions:
( a ) to hear and determine applications made to it under
article 6; and
( b ) to hear and determine appeals made to it under article
8.
(2) The Minister shall have power to make rules for regulating
the procedure to be followed by and before the Board. Without
  2      CAP. 214. _h     PUBLIC TRANSPORT (REGULATION OF EMPLOYMENT)
prejudice to any rules made under this subsection and to any
provision of this Act, the Board shall have power to regulate its
own procedure.
(3) The proceedings of the Board shall, unless the Board for
special reasons which shall be publicly stated deems otherwise, be
held in public and shall be held at such times and places as the
Board may determine. 
(4) All decisions of the Board shall be by a majority of votes of
all members.
(5) The Board shall give its decision without delay and in so far
as practicable not later than fifteen days after the date on which an
application or an appeal is made to it under this Act.
Cap.12.
(6) The provisions of Sub-title II of Title II of Book Third of
the Code of Organization and Civil Procedure shall, in so far as
applicable and subject to such modifications and adaptations as
may be required, apply to the chairman and members of the Board
as they apply to the judges.
(7) The chairman of the Board shall have power to administer
oaths and to summon witnesses, and such summons shall be in such
manner and form as the chairman may deem appropriate.
(8) In regard to persons duly summoned to give evidence
before the Board and in regard to matters relating to the
maintenance of good order, proper behaviour and decorum during
sittings of the Board, the chairman of the Board shall have the same
powers of the Court of Magistrates in its civil jurisdiction.
(9) The decisions of the Board and of the chairman shall be
final, but shall be motivated.
(10) Where any member of the Board is challenged or abstains
in accordance with the provisions of subarticle (6) the following
provisions shall apply:
( a ) if the member challenged or who abstains is the
chairman, the Minister shall substitute for that member
another person qualified to be chairman of the
Authority to be chairman of the Board for the
particular case or cases in respect of which the
member has been challenged or has abstained;
( b ) if the member challenged or who abstains is not the
chairman of the Board - 
(i) the parties in the case may agree on a person to
substitute that member on the Board in which
case the person so agreed upon shall substitute
on the Board the member challenged or who has
abstained for the particular case or cases in
respect of which that member has been
challenged or has abstained; or 
PUBLIC TRANSPORT (REGULATION OF EMPLOYMENT)   _g CAP. 214.     3
Cap. 232.
(ii) failing agreement as provided in sub-paragraph
(i) of this paragraph, there shall be substituted
for the member challenged or who abstained and
for the particular case or cases in respect of
which that member has been challenged or has
abstained a member of the Board appointed by
the Authority in accordance with the provisions
of article 30(2) of the Malta Transport Authority
Act.
Public Transport 
Labour Control 
Officer.
4. (1) The Minister shall designate a public officer serving in
the Department of Labour to act as the Public Transport Labour
Control Officer.
(2) The functions of the officer shall be:
( a ) to carry out the duties assigned to him by this Act; 
( b ) to supervise the observance of all enactments affecting
the conditions of employment of public transport
employees and to report any non-observance of any of
the provisions of such enactments to the appropriate
authority;
( c ) to bring the enactments aforesaid and such other
enactments concerning road traffic as may affect
public transport employees to the attention of persons
employing or concerned with the employment of
public transport employees, and to report to the
appropriate authority any breach of any of the
provisions of such enactments that is brought to his
notice;
( d ) to report to the Minister any matter concerning public
transport employees or affecting their conditions of
work which in his opinion requires rectification and to
make recommendations thereon;
( e ) to perform such other duties as the Minister may from
time to time assign to him.
Fines. 
Amended by: 
L.N. 164 of 1990.
5. (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other enactment,
no deduction from the wages due to public transport employee shall
be made by way of a fine unless - 
Cap. 452.
( a ) such deduction is lawful in accordance with the
provisions of the Employment and Industrial Relations
Act; and
( b ) the officer or, as the case may be, the Board has, after
hearing such evidence as may be necessary for the
purposes, authorised the deduction as lawful and
justified; and
( c ) such deduction has been entered in the register
referred to in the Act aforesaid and then entry thereof
in the register has been countersigned by the officer or
as the case may be, by the chairman of the Board as
evidence of the officer’s or of the Board’s authority for
the deduction.
  4      CAP. 214. _h     PUBLIC TRANSPORT (REGULATION OF EMPLOYMENT)
   Provided that any fine deducted on the authority of the officer
shall be refunded by the employer to the employee to the extent
that, on an appeal under section 8 of this Act, the Board finds that
the deduction, or part thereof, was not lawful or justified.
Cap. 452.
(2) Any deduction from the wages of a public transport
employee made by way of a fine in contravention of any of the
foregoing provisions of this section shall be deemed to be an illegal
deduction for the purposes of the Employment and Industrial
Relations Act.
Termination of 
contract of service.
Cap. 452.
6. (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of any other enactment,
the contract of service of a public transport employee made for an
indefinite time may not be terminated by the employer unless and
until the Board, on an application in that behalf made by the
employer and after hearing such evidence as may be necessary for
the purpose, decides that the contract of service may properly be
terminated in accordance with the provisions of the Employment
and Industrial Relations Act, and declares in its decision that all the
provisions of the Act aforesaid applicable to the case have been
duly observed, and, in particular, that the employer has made or
offered to make all payments due by him under that Act.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subarticle (1) the
employer may, after he has made an application to the Board under
this section, suspend the employee from work and pay him half the
wages due to him until the application is determined by the Board:
  Provided that the full wages shall be due to the employee in
respect of any period of suspension if the application is dismissed
by the Board or is waived or withdrawn by the employer.
(3) Until an application is made to the Board under this section
the employee shall be entitled to require the employer to continue
to pay him the wages due to him even if his services are for any
reason not required by the employer; and, for the purposes of this
Act, any period intervening between an application made under this
section and its determination by the Board or its waiver or
withdrawal by the employer during which the services of the
employee are for any reason not required by the employer shall be
deemed to be a period of suspension.
(4) Where the contract of service of a public transport
employee is terminated in violation of a decision of the Board
given under subarticle (1), the employee shall be entitled to require
the employer to pay him by way of damages a sum corresponding
to fifty-two times the wages due in respect of one week.
(5) On an application made under this section, the Board may
make such orders as may appear to the Board to be appropriate in
the case.
Cap. 452.
(6) The termination of a contract of service of a public
transport employee made in contravention of subarticle (1) shall be
deemed to be a contravention of the Employment and Industrial
Relations Act, and non-payment, whether wholly or in part, of the
wages or damages due under subsection (2), (3) or (4) of this article
shall be deemed to be a withholding of a remuneration payable
PUBLIC TRANSPORT (REGULATION OF EMPLOYMENT)   _g CAP. 214.     5
under the said Act.
Certificates issued 
by officer.
7. (1) Where a claim is made to the officer by a public
transport employee - 
( a ) that the wages due to him in accordance with any
enactment then in force have not been paid to him; or 
( b ) that the wages paid to him are less than those due to
him at the rate applicable in accordance with that
enactment; or
( c ) that an illegal deduction has been made from the
wages due to him; or
( d ) that any deduction refundable under article 5(1) has
not been refunded; or
( e ) that any wages or damages due under article 6(2), (3)
or (4) have not been paid; or 
( f ) that any of the terms and conditions of any enactment
have not been observed,
Cap. 12.
the officer may, subject to the provisions of subarticle (2), certify
under his hand the amount or amounts due for all or any of the
reasons aforesaid and, subject to the provisions of article 8, such
certificate shall be an executive title in like manner as if it were an
award of arbitrators referred to in article 253( b ) of the Code of
Organization and Civil Procedure for all purposes of that Code.
(2) The officer shall not entertain any claim made under this
section unless such claim is made within fifteen days after the date
on which the amount in respect of which the claim is made was
due, and shall not issue any certificate under this section unless he
shall have previously given the employer an opportunity of being
heard and unless evidence sufficient to justify the issue of the
certificate has been produced to his satisfaction.
Appeal from 
officer’s decisions.
8. (1) Where a public transport employee or his employer
feels aggrieved by any decision of the officer given in pursuance of
section 5 or the employer feels aggrieved by any decision of the
officer given in pursuance of article 7, he may appeal from that
decision by an application to the Board not later than fifteen days
from the day on which he shall have been informed in writing by
the officer of the decision given in the matter.
(2) An appeal made under this section shall not suspend the
operation of the officer’s decision:
  Provided that where an appeal is duly made from a decision of
the officer given in pursuance of article 7, the certificate issued by
the officer shall not become an executive title until, and except to
the extent that, it is confirmed by the Board.
(3) On an appeal made under this section the Board may make
such orders as may appear to the Board to be appropriate in the
case.
(4) For the purposes of this section the officer shall be deemed
to have given a decision in pursuance of article 5 or 7, if he has
  6      CAP. 214. _h     PUBLIC TRANSPORT (REGULATION OF EMPLOYMENT)
countersigned or refused to countersign an entry made in the
register referred to in article 5 or if he has issued a certificate under
article 7.
Powers of the 
officer. 
Amended by: 
XIII. 1983.5 . 
Cap. 452.
9. (1)  The officer shall have all the powers of an inspector
appointed under the Employment and Industrial Relations Act, and
the provisions of that Act shall apply in respect of the officer as
they apply in respect of an inspector appointed as aforesaid and as
if references to an inspector were construed as references to the
officer.
(2) In the exercise of his functions and powers under this Act,
the officer may administer oaths and may, by writing under his
hand, summon any person to appear before him and give evidence
on any matter related to the functions of the officer under this Act.
(3) Any person who, having been summoned as aforesaid,
refuses or fails without sufficient cause to attend at the time and
place indicated in the summons or refuses without sufficient cause
to answer or to answer fully and satisfactory to the best of his
knowledge and belief all questions put to him by or with the
concurrence of the officer shall be liable on conviction to a fine
( multa ) of not less than five liri and not exceeding fifty liri.
Application of 
Employment and 
Industrial 
Relations Act. 
Cap. 452.
10. The provisions of the Employment and Industrial Relations
Act shall apply to offences under this Act and to offences deemed
to be offences under the Employment and Industrial Relations Act,
as they apply to offences under the said Act.
