MACL Removes Ramadan Overtime Pay; VIA Staff No Longer Compensated For Extra Hours

Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL) has announced revised working hour arrangements for Velana International Airport (VIA) during Ramadan 1447 and the first seven days of Shawwal, introducing a shorter daily schedule for administrative staff while significantly changing how overtime pay will be calculated for the wider workforce.

Under the new directive, administrative employees will work 4 hours and 30 minutes per day, with official hours set from 9:00 am to 1:30 pm. A 30 minute grace period between 9:00 am and 9:30 am has been introduced to support staff during the fasting month. Employees working on a duty‑roster basis will continue to follow the shift schedules issued by their respective departments, with no change to rostered operational hours.

A major change this year is how overtime pay will be handled. In previous years, administrative staff were given shorter Ramadan hours, but many operational and non‑administrative employees could not reduce their hours because airport operations run continuously. These employees typically worked more than the 5 hour Ramadan schedule as part of normal operational requirements, and the additional hours were paid as overtime. This system had been in place for many years and ensured that staff who needed to stay longer during Ramadan were compensated for the extra time.

This year, however, MACL has changed the system. Overtime pay will no longer be granted simply for working beyond the reduced Ramadan schedule. Instead, overtime pay will be issued only for hours worked in excess of 48 hours per week, in line with the general labour‑policy framework. This means that even if operational staff work more than the traditional 5 hour Ramadan schedule  or more than the 4.5 hour administrative schedule  they will not receive overtime pay unless their total weekly hours surpass the 48 hour threshold.

The change significantly reduces overtime pay eligibility for a large portion of VIA’s operational workforce, many of whom have historically worked extended hours during Ramadan due to the airport’s 24/7 operational requirements. Under the new system, many of those additional hours will now fall within regular working time, resulting in no overtime pay unless the weekly limit is exceeded.