MALDIVES LAW AND PRACTICE Contributed by: Shaaheen Hameed, Hassan Maaz Shareef, Aminath Amathulla, Nazahath Ahmed, Isha Ali Raoof, Aifa Shareef, Noorul Hudha Ahmed and Mohamed Azmee, Premier Chambers LLP
than six consecutive days without granting a break of 24 hours. However, there are excep - tions to this rule where employees working in specific sectors may have to work for more than six consecutive days without a break, provided they are granted rest days in lieu of every day worked beyond the six consecutive days which can be accumulated and utilised thereafter. Overtime Employers are prohibited from requiring employ - ees to work overtime unless it is specified in the employment contract. Any work carried out as overtime must be paid at the following hourly rates. • Overtime on a normal working day: 1.25 times an employee’s regular hourly wage. • Overtime on a Friday or a public holiday: 1.5 times an employee’s regular hourly wage. 4.4 Termination of Employment Contracts Termination of Employment Contracts After the Employment Act came into force in 2008, the Maldives abolished employment at will. Currently, for an employment contract to be terminated, there must be a reasonable cause. Three types of dismissals are currently recog - nised in the Maldives. • Dismissal with notice: this type of dismissal is allowed after showing appropriate cause as to failure to maintain work ethics or inability to carry out employment duties and responsibili - ties related to the proper functioning of their place of work even after measures have been taken to discipline the employee or upgrade skill deficiencies. • Summary dismissal: this is where an employee is dismissed without notice when an employee’s work ethics are considered
unacceptable and further continuation of employment is likely to be detrimental to the employer or to the workplace. • Redundancy: this is considered as a reason - able cause for dismissal of an employee in the following circumstances: (a) closure of the business and services of the employer; (b) redundancy due to restructuring of the business; and (c) financial distress. In the case of dismissal, the onus is always on the employer to show the cause. Severance Pay and Notice of Termination Severance pay does not have to be paid to employees in the event of dismissal from employ - ment. In the event of dismissal with notice, the employer has to give notice to the employees based on the employee’s length of service and the employer can terminate the employment immediately by paying the employee’s salary in lieu of any required period of notice together with any accrued holiday pay up to the date notice is given. In the case of redundancy, no obligatory com - pensation or redundancy pay has to be paid to the employees who are made redundant. How - ever, the Employment Act obliges the employer to give notice of dismissal to the employees being made redundant based on the employee’s length of service. The employer is granted dis - cretion to pay the employee’s salary in lieu of the required notice. Based on the employment duration, the notice period or payment in lieu of notice period is as follows. • Less than one year: one month.
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