The Employee Representative Regulations apply to undertakings that employ fifty employees or more. The legislation that regulates employee representation is S.L.452.96.

If the undertaking has one or more recognised trade unions that covers all categories of employees, such union/s will act as the employee representative. If not all categories of employees are covered by a union, employee representation is required for the unrepresented category.

For an employee to become an employee representative, they must have passed their probationary period.

As part of their duties, the representatives are to meet with the employer within two months from their date of appointment and at least once every six months for each preceding meeting. During the meetings, employers must provide information on the recent developments of the undertaking’s activities and economic scenario. Moreover, representatives are to be informed of any anticipatory scenarios where there might be potential threats to the employment of the employees as well as on decisions likely to lead to substantial changes in the work organisation

Employee representatives are obliged to keep in confidence, information entrusted to them except where it is permitted by law and may refer the dispute to the Industrial Tribunal as to whether the confidentiality of certain information is reasonable.

An employee representative is legally protected from wrongful termination if the employer terminates them on grounds that they lawfully exercised their functions as an employee representative and may refer the issue to the Industrial Tribunal within 4 months from the date of the alleged breach. Moreover, employee representatives are to be guaranteed reasonable time off with pay during working hours to exercise their functions as a representative.