Remote Work in Malta: What Employers Need to Know

Remote work in Malta falls under the Telework National Standard Order, Subsidiary Legislation 452.104, issued as Legal Notice 312 of 2008 under the Employment and Industrial Relations Act (Cap. 452). The order covers any arrangement where work that could be done at the employer’s premises is carried out elsewhere on a regular basis using information technology. A software developer in Mosta working from a spare room fits. A salesperson who happens to answer email on the bus does not.

The order is brief. It deals with how telework starts and ends, who provides equipment, data protection, privacy, health and safety, training and collective rights. Everything else comes from the ordinary rules: the national minimum wage, statutory bonuses and COLA, the 40-hour standard week, leave, notice and the Final Settlement System for tax. A remote employee in Malta is an employee in the full sense, with no reduced category.

DIER, the Department for Industrial and Employment Relations, publishes plain guidance on telework and handles complaints. Its telework page is the best short reference, and it is worth reading once before you draft a remote contract.

Yes. Under the Telework National Standard Order, telework is voluntary for both sides unless it forms part of the original job description. If you hire someone into a fully remote role from day one, the remote arrangement is simply part of the contract. If an office-based employee is later asked to switch, they can say no, and refusing is not in itself a valid reason for dismissal.

The same logic applies in reverse. An employee who works from home by agreement can usually ask to return to the office, and an employer can ask the same, following whatever the written arrangement says about reversal. Setting the notice period for that change in writing saves arguments later.

There is currently no statutory right to request remote work in Malta. Whether to allow it is the employer’s call. That may change: on 1 May 2026 the Labour Party pledged to consult unions and employers on a right to request remote work, flexi-time or compressed hours, and it won the general election on 30 May 2026. No law had been published when this guide was written, so treat it as a pending change and check DIER before relying on either position.

In Malta the employer provides, installs and maintains the equipment needed for telework, unless the employer and employee agree otherwise. That covers the laptop, any monitors or headsets the role needs, and the software licences. The employer is also expected to provide technical support, and the employee is expected to take good care of the equipment.

The order leaves room to agree a different split, which is why the written agreement matters. Many employers in Malta pay a fixed monthly allowance towards internet and electricity instead of reimbursing receipts. If you do this, run it through payroll and check with your adviser how it is treated for tax and social security, since cash allowances are usually part of earnings unless an exemption applies.

• Equipment list and who owns each item
• Who provides internet access and whether an allowance is paid
• How faults are reported and how quickly support responds
• Rules on personal use of work devices
• What happens to equipment when employment ends

An EOR can build these points into the employment contract so the remote employee sees them before the start date. With Employer of Record Malta, the contract and any allowance are set up in our own Maltese company’s payroll, so the numbers match what the employee was promised.

Yes, every working time rule in Malta applies to remote employees. The standard week is 40 hours unless a Wage Regulation Order sets something different. The legal maximum is an average of 48 hours a week over a 17-week reference period, and an employee can opt out of that limit only in writing. They can withdraw the opt-out later with between 7 days’ and 3 months’ notice, and nobody may be treated badly for refusing to sign one.

Daily rest is 11 consecutive hours. Weekly rest is 24 hours in every 7 days, or 48 hours in every 14. Where the working day is longer than 6 hours, the employee is entitled to a break of at least 15 minutes. These rest periods cannot be bought out with extra pay.

The practical risk with remote staff is drift: late calls with a US team, weekend messages, and no record of any of it. Malta has no specific right to disconnect in its telework order, but the rest rules do much of the same work. Keep simple time records, agree core hours, and set a norm that messages outside those hours do not need an answer until the next working day.

Overtime is governed by the relevant Wage Regulation Order, and most set a rate of one and a half times normal pay. Senior and managerial contracts often fold overtime into salary, so say so clearly if that is your intention.

The employer’s health and safety duties under the Occupational Health and Safety Authority Act (Cap. 424) extend to a teleworker’s workstation. In practice that means a documented risk assessment of the home set-up, guidance on posture and screen breaks, and a way for the employee to report problems. The telework order lets the employer, a worker representative or the authorities check the workstation, with the employee’s agreement and with notice, because the workspace is also a private home.

Data protection is the second duty. The employer must tell the teleworker which company rules apply to data, what restrictions exist on using equipment and the internet, and what happens if those rules are broken. The employee is responsible for following them. A short written policy on device encryption, shared screens, printing and storage of paper files covers most of what a small team needs.

Monitoring must be proportionate and disclosed. If you plan to use any monitoring software, tell the employee what it does and why before switching it on, and keep it limited to what the role actually needs.

Teleworkers keep the same rights to training, career development and collective representation as staff in the office. Give them the same access to internal job postings and reviews, and include them in any collective consultation.

A foreign company can have a remote employee in Malta, but someone has to act as the Maltese employer. If the person lives and works in Malta, Maltese employment law, the Final Settlement System for income tax and Class 1 social security apply. The employer needs a PE number from the Malta Tax and Customs Administration, must withhold tax and contributions every month, file the FS5 by the end of the following month, and submit the Jobsplus engagement form within 4 working days of the start date.

Many overseas firms either set up a Maltese company to do this or use an Employer of Record. The EOR route means the employee joins a Maltese payroll straight away, with a contract that covers telework properly. Our Malta EOR services page explains what that includes, and our step-by-step hiring guide walks through the sequence from offer to first payslip.

Paying a Malta-based person as a contractor to avoid all this carries its own risk. If the arrangement meets at least 5 of the 8 criteria in the Employment Status National Standard Order, the law treats the person as an employee regardless of the label.

The Nomad Residence Permit lets non-EU nationals live in Malta while working remotely for an employer or clients based outside Malta. It is run by the Residency Malta Agency. Applicants need gross income of at least €42,000 a year, and the permit is issued for one year and can be renewed up to a maximum of four years. The fees are €300 for the application and €100 for the residence card.

The permit suits a narrow case: a non-EU employee who stays on a payroll outside Malta and simply wants to live on the islands for a while. It does not give the holder permission to take a job with a Maltese employer. If you want to hire a non-EU national into Maltese employment, including through an EOR, the route is normally a Single Permit or the Key Employee Initiative through Identità.

Nomad permit holders may also be taxed at a flat 10% on qualifying income, but the conditions are specific. Check them with the Residency Malta Agency and a tax adviser before quoting a figure to anyone. EU and EEA nationals do not need the Nomad permit at all. They can live in Malta and register their residence with Identità.