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Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 97) - Slovenia (RATIFICATION: 1992)

Other comments on C097

Observation

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Article 1 of the Convention. Legislative developments. Migration policy. The Committee takes note of the information provided by the Government, in its report, on a number of legislative developments relevant to labour migration, in particular: (1) the modification of section 210 of the Employment Relationship Act (ZDR-1) to increase the level of minimum protection provided to workers posted in Slovenia by foreign employers, so as to ensure the application of more favourable Slovenian regulations; (2) the amendment of the Employment, Self-Employment, and work of Foreigners Act (ZZSDT) to facilitate the recruitment of foreign workers in innovative companies or compagnies with high added value; and (3) the amendment of the Aliens Act (ZTuj-2) to, among other, regulate the conditions of entry of third-country nationals for the purposes of seasonal employment and in the framework of intra-corporate transfers, and to facilitate the entry of third country nationals coming for the purposes of research and study. The Committee also takes note of the fact that the previous Strategy of Economic Migration (SEM) 2010-2020 has expired and that the Government does not provide information on the adoption of a new policy on labour migration. In this regard, it wishes to stress the importance of: (1) developing a coherent policy on international labour migration based upon the economic and social needs of both origin and destination countries, and taking account of short-term workforce needs and long-term social and economic consequences; and (2) integrating national labour migration policies and the protection of migrant workers’ rights in a national employment policy aimed at promoting full, decent, productive and freely chosen employment (see 2016 General Survey, Promoting fair migration, paragraphs 169–170). The Committee therefore requests the Government to indicate whether it is considering adopting a new SEM and to provide information on any development in this regard. The Committee also requests the Government to continue to provide information on the legislative developments to regulate emigration and immigration.

Articles 2 and 4. Provision of accurate information and assistance. The Committee takes note of the Government’s confirmation that the services provided by the INFO points to foreigners is free of charge.

Article 6. Free choice of employment. The Committee refers to its comments, in this regard, under Article 14 of the Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention, 1975 (No. 143).

Equal treatment with respect to conditions of work. While the Committee notes the detailed information provided by the Government on the activities of the labour inspectorate in relation with the enforcement of the Employment, Self-Employment, and work of Foreigners Act (ZZSDT). It notes, in particular, the indication that the violations of Slovenia’s labour legislation are mostly recorded by the type of violation of the Employment Relationship Act (ZDR-1) and that there are no statistics on these violations disaggregated by citizenship statuses (nationals and foreign workers). In this context, the Committee points out that appropriate data and statistics are crucial in determining the nature of inequalities of treatment faced by migrant workers, to set priorities and design measures, and to evaluate their impact and make adaptations where necessary (2016 General Survey, paragraphs 647–50). The Committee asks the Government to ensure that such labour migration data are collected, disaggregated by sex and sectors of employment and occupation, so as to be in the position to assess whether migrant workers lawfully within the country, benefit in practice from conditions of work that are not less favourable than the conditions applied to nationals, in relation to remuneration, hours of work, overtime arrangements, rest periods, and annual leave.

Equal treatment with respect to accommodation. The Government indicates that the conditions of accommodations of foreign workers continue to be subject to inspections which led to the detection of two violations in 2018 and in 2019. No violations were detected from 2020 to July 2022. The Committee takes note of this information.

Equal treatment with respect to social security. The Committee notes that the Government confirms that when foreigners who still hold a valid single permit are deregistered from the compulsory social insurance schemes because their employment contracts have ended, they are notified of the deregistration by the Employment Service and must send proof of an employment contract with the same employer and for the same job within fifteen days to avoid the deregistration. The Committee requests the Government to indicate how the national legislation gives effect to the principle of not less favourable treatment of foreign workers whose employment contract comes to an end, as regards social security entitlements arising from past periods of employment, in respect of access to medical care or income security benefits (for example, in case of maternity, family or unemployment benefits) for the periods during which they are allowed to remain on the national territory. Lastly, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on whether it has concluded international agreements with other States for the maintenance of acquired social security rights and rights in course of acquisition.

Enforcement. The Committee notes the indication by the Government that the Transnational Provision of Services Act (ZČmlS) transposes the EU Directive No. 2018/957 on posted workers. It takes note of the detailed information provided on the activities of the labour inspectorate, in relation with both the supervision of the regulations on posted work and the supervision of the Employment, Self-Employment, and work of Foreigners Act (ZZSDT). It notes however that the information provided on posted work concerns for the most part workers posted to other EU Member States, as opposed to information on the situation of foreign workers posted to work in Slovenia. It also notes that most violations of the Employment, Self-Employment, and work of Foreigners Act (ZZSDT) reported for 2021, involved situations where employers instructed workers to perform work for which they had no authorization (section 7 of the Act). The Committee requests the Government to continue reporting on the activities of the labour inspectorate in relation with labour migration, including information on the implementation in practice of the legislation on posted work performed in Slovenia. It also requests the Government to provide information on the sanctions imposed by the labour inspectorate in cases of violations of the Employment Relationship Act (ZDR-1) to the detriment of migrant workers (nature of the sanctions and, if applicable, amounts of the fines), as well as information on any relevant court cases.

Statistics. The Committee takes note of the statistical information provided by the Government and issued by the Employment Service, showing that 22,560 work permits were issued in 2021 and 12,894 in the first seven months of 2022. The vast majority of these permits were issued in the context of the mobility agreement in force with Bosnia Herzegovina (19,577 in 2021 and 10,908 for the first seven months of 2022) and concerned overwhelmingly male migrant workers (21,038 in 2021 and 11,266 in the first seven months of 2022). Lastly, the main sectors for which work permits were issued were the manufacturing sector (5,012 in 2021 and 3,324 in the first seven months of 2022) and the construction sector (4,081 in 2021 and 2,366 in the first seven months of 2022). The Committee requests the Government to continue to collect and communicate statistical data on labour migration, including information on the types of permits granted, and the sectors in which migrant workers were employed, disaggregated by sex and nationality. It also invites the Government to gather and communicate comparable statistics on the number of Slovenian workers abroad. Finally, the Committee draws the Government’s attention to the Guidelines concerning statistics of international labour migration (ICLS/20/2018/Guidelines) for consideration and guidance.