CMNT_TITLE

The Committee notes the information contained in the Government’s report received in September 2009. The Government states that, according to Law No. 103-XV of 13 March 2003 on Employment and Social Protection and Law No. 180-XVI of 19 July 2008 on Labour Migration, private employment agencies are not allowed to charge fees to workers mediated domestically or internationally (Article 7, paragraph 3, of the Convention). The Government has established a system of permanent monitoring of all mediation activities through the labour inspection and trade unions and during 2008 the activities of 11 private agencies were suspended for certain periods. The Committee asks the Government to continue to provide information on the machinery for the supervision of the implementation of the Convention (Articles 10 and 14) and on collaboration between the National Employment Agency and private employment agencies (Article 13). It requests the Government to provide additional information on the following points.

1. Equality of opportunity and treatment for women and ethnic minorities. The Government states that, while targeted programmes by private employment agencies in the sense of Article 5, paragraph 2, do not exist, 70 per cent of the applicants successfully mediated within the country were women. With regard to discrimination of ethnic minorities, the Committee notes that the Labour Code prohibits any form of discrimination based on ethnicity. The Committee therefore invites the Government to provide information in its next report on the measures envisaged to ensure equality of opportunity and treatment for all workers by private employment agencies, especially with regard to ethnic minorities (Article 5, paragraph 1).

2. Article 8. Protection of migrant workers. The Committee notes the detailed information provided concerning the bilateral agreements for the protection of migrant workers concluded with certain European Union and neighbouring countries. It also notes the coming into force on 1 January 2009 of Law No. 180 on Labour Migration stipulating the rights and obligations of private employment agencies in the mediation of employees abroad. It notes the Government’s statement that the monitoring of compliance with national legislation, as carried out by the labour inspection and trade unions, still lacks a well-defined mechanism for the mediation of Moldovans abroad. In this context, the Committee further notes the training seminars with regard to aspects of labour migration for private employment agencies conducted by the Office with government ministries and workers’ and employers’ organizations. The Committee invites the Government to include information on the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that workers recruited to work abroad by private employment agencies are not denied the right to freedom of association (Article 4). The Committee further invites the Government to continue providing information on the bilateral agreements concluded to prevent abuse and fraudulent practices in recruitment, placement and employment and to keep it informed of any new legislative developments for the protection of migrant workers recruited on its territory by private employment agencies (Article 8).

3. Article 11. Rights of workers employed by a private employment agency. The Government indicates in its report that the national legislation guarantees to all workers, including those employed by a private employment agency, the rights set out in Article 11. The Committee requests the Government to specify in its next report the provisions guaranteeing adequate protection for the workers employed by a private employment agency in the fields of social security (Article 11(e)) and compensation in case of insolvency and the protection of workers claims (Article 11(i)).

4. Article 12. Allocation of responsibilities between private employment agencies and user enterprises. The Government again indicates that the allocation of the reciprocal responsibilities and obligations of the parties has been determined by the Entrepreneurship Act and other legal texts. The Committee requests the Government to also specify the manner in which the legislative texts referred to by the Government in its report have allocated the respective responsibilities of private employment agencies and user enterprises in each of the areas covered by Article 12.