A joint parliamentary committee has approved significant amendments to the Employment Act which would see an employee granted 10 sick days in a year without having to submit a medical certificate.

The amendments were made by the joint committee consisting of the committee on social affairs and committee on economic affairs.

The Employment Act states that an employee can take 15 days out of the 30 days of medical leave without submitting a medical certificate. It also allows an employer to withhold granting medical leave for an employee for two consecutive days without a valid medical certificate

The joint committee passed several other amendments to the Employment Act on Sunday and would now proceed to submit its report to the parliament floor. The amendments to the Act would only be put to a vote after the MPs discourse on the changes made to the Act.

The joint committee had approved amendments to Articles 41 and 42 of the Employment Act. The approved amendments read that before an employee takes his/her annual leave as mandated by the his/her employment agreement, the employer must pay the salary due to the employee for his/her days on annual leave no later than the first day of his/her leave.