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Holidays with Pay Convention (Revised), 1970 (No. 132) - Latvia (RATIFICATION: 1994)

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The Committee notes the information provided by the Government, which answers the points raised in its previous direct request and has no further matters to raise in this regard.

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Article 4 of the Convention. Proportionate leave. The Committee recalls its previous comments, requesting the Government to specify how it is ensured in law and practice that employees whose length of service in any year is less than that required for the full entitlement to annual holiday with pay, that is, six months, receive paid leave proportionate to their length of service during that year. In its latest report, the Government refers to section 150(3) of the Labour Code as not only meeting the requirements of Article 4 but also establishing more favourable standards than those set out in the Convention. The Committee notes, however, that as it currently reads, section 150 does not address the issue of leave proportionate to length of service. In this connection, the Committee understands that according to the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice (Case C 173/99), Article 7(1) of Council Directive 93/104/EC, which provides that every worker is entitled to paid annual leave of at least four weeks, does not allow a Member State to adopt national rules under which a worker does not begin to accrue rights to paid annual leave until he has completed a minimum period of uninterrupted employment with the same employer. The Committee accordingly requests the Government to take the necessary measures, legislative, or other, to ensure that holiday with pay proportionate to the length of service is granted to all employees whose length of service in any year is less than that required for the full entitlement to annual holiday with pay.

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The Committee notes the latest amendments to sections 73 (average earnings) and 149 (improvement of working conditions while on annual leave) of the Labour Code. It also notes the provisions of the 2003 Maritime Code on seafarers’ leave and holidays but recalls that seafarers fall outside the scope of application of this Convention.

Article 4 of the Convention. Proportionate leave. Further to its previous comment on this point, the Committee again requests the Government to specify how it is ensured in law and practice that employees whose length of service in any year is less than that required for the full entitlement to annual holiday with pay receive a holiday with pay proportionate to their length of service during that year, as prescribed by this Article of the Convention.

Part V of the report form. Practical application. The Committee notes that, according to a 2007 report published by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Latvia is among the countries with the lowest amount of leave among EU Member States. The Committee would appreciate if the Government would supply together with its next report up to date information on the manner in which the Convention is applied in practice, including statistics on the number of workers covered by the relevant legislation, inspection results showing the number of breaches recorded and sanctions imposed, any difficulties encountered in the enforcement of the relevant legislation, copies of collective agreements containing clauses on annual holidays with pay, etc.

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The Committee notes with interest the Government's first report on the application of the Convention and the detailed information it contains. It asks the Government to supply further information on the following points.

Article 2 of the Convention. The Committee notes the information that the Convention applies to all employment contracts and to all employees and employers under section 5 of the Labour Code. It notes however that section 252 of the Labour Code provides for different regulations governing the hours of work and periods of holiday which may be adopted for certain listed branches of the economy. The Government is requested to indicate if any regulations have been implemented in pursuance of this section.

Article 4. Recalling that under this Article of the Convention a holiday with pay proportionate to length of service must be granted to all employees whose length of service in any year is less than that required for the full entitlement to annual holiday with pay, the Committee requests the Government to indicate the manner in which effect is given to this provision by national legislation or other measures.