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Article 2 of the Convention. Scope of application. The Committee notes the Government’s reference to the Labour Standards Bill currently under preparation. The Committee understands that draft labour legislation was completed in 1995 with the technical support of the Office. Recalling that the Committee has been commenting on the need to extend the scope of the Labour Act, 1990 (Cap. 198) in order to cover homeworkers and also to draft regulations for the employment of domestic servants, the Committee hopes that the Labour Standards Bill will be finalized shortly and that it will contain appropriate provisions in this regard. It asks the Government to transmit a copy of the new legislation as soon as it is adopted.

Article 5. Direct payment of wages to workers. In the absence of any reply on this point, the Committee reiterates its request for information on any legislative or administrative measures taken to ensure that wages are paid directly to the workers concerned, as prescribed by this Article of the Convention.

Article 6. Prohibition of limiting workers’ freedom to dispose of their wages. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that there have been no cases of authorization of the deferred payment of wages under section 35 of the Labour Act in past years. While noting that no use may have recently been made of the discretionary power afforded by section 35 of the Labour Act, the Committee hopes that the Government will take the necessary steps to ensure that the national legislation is brought into line with the Convention in this regard by providing for a purely voluntary system of deferment of the payment of wages based on the worker’s express request.

Articles 13(1) and 14(b). Place and time of payment and issue of wage statement. Please indicate the provisions requiring: (i) the payment of wages where made in cash to be made on working days only and at or near the workplace; and (ii) the issue of payslips at the time of each payment of wages containing full wage particulars for the pay period concerned.

Part V of the report form. The Committee notes that the Government has not supplied in recent years any information on the manner in which the Convention is applied in practice. It therefore requests the Government to communicate all available information, including, for instance, statistics on the number of workers who are covered by relevant legislation, extracts from labour inspection reports showing the number and nature of wage-related offences observed and sanctions imposed, copies of collective agreements containing clauses on pay conditions, any difficulties experienced in the timely payment of wages in the private or public sector, etc.