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Article 7, paragraphs 2 and 3, of the Convention. Temporary exceptions – annual limit to the number of additional hours. The Committee notes with regret that, in reply to its previous comments, the Government merely indicates once again that it is currently unable to amend section 36(4) of the Labour Code in order to bring it into conformity with the provisions of the Convention. It notes that the Government refers, as an additional argument, to the elections which took place in the country in May 2009 in order to justify a further postponement of the adoption of the necessary measures in this area. The Committee reiterates that, although social dialogue is of course essential and the ideal is to find solutions on which a tripartite consensus has been reached, the Government bears the ultimate responsibility for the fulfilment of its international obligations, including the implementation of the ILO Conventions ratified by Panama. The Committee therefore urges the Government to amend section 36(4) of the Labour Code in order to fix a reasonable annual limit to the number of additional hours authorized in the context of temporary exceptions and thereby bring the national legislation into conformity with the Convention on this point.

Furthermore, in reply to a point raised by the Committee concerning daily and annual limits on overtime applicable in the public sector, the Government refers to Executive Decree No. 222 of 12 September 1997 implementing Act No. 9 of 20 June 1994 regulating the administrative career service, which authorizes under the sole condition of obtaining the authorization of the responsible chief, the accumulation of 40 additional hours per month and 25 per cent of legal daily working time. However, Article 7(2) of the Convention only authorizes temporary exceptions to the normal limits on hours of work in a number of specific cases and in cases of abnormal pressure of work due to special circumstances, in so far as the employer cannot ordinarily be expected to resort to other measures. The Committee therefore requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to limit, in conformity with the Convention, the cases in which public service employees are authorized to work additional hours.

In addition, Article 7(3) of the Convention prescribes the setting of an annual limit on the number of additional hours authorized. The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary steps in order to introduce such a limit and to keep the Office informed of developments in this area.

Finally, the Committee notes that, under the terms of section 122 of Executive Decree No. 222 of 12 September 1997, additional hours are paid only on condition that they have been previously authorized by the responsible chief. It notes that section 217 of Act No. 51 of 11 December 2007 fixing the general State budget for 2008 reaffirms this limitation concerning the remuneration of additional hours and states that the latter may not exceed 50 per cent of the normal monthly salary of the official concerned. The Committee emphasizes that, except for cases of accident and force majeure, additional hours must be paid at not less than one and a quarter times the regular rate, regardless of whether any compensatory rest is granted. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the rates of pay applicable in cases of additional hours of work in the public service.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2010.]