Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Article 7, paragraph 2, and Article 8, paragraph 3, of the Convention. Compensatory rest. Further to its previous comment concerning section 12 of Order No. 324 of 23 May 2002 on rest periods and days off, which is not fully consistent with these Articles of the Convention since it provides that compensatory rest may be replaced by “appropriate protection” in exceptional circumstances, the Committee notes that section 56 of the Working Environment Act (Consolidated Act No. 268 of 18 March 2005, as amended) reproduces in almost identical terms the same provision. The Committee recalls that the Convention requires in all cases without exception a compensatory rest period of a total duration at least equivalent to 24 hours. It therefore requests the Government to take the necessary steps in order to bring its legislation into full conformity with the requirements of the Convention in this regard.

In addition, the Committee notes that neither the Working Environment Act nor the Order on rest periods and days off seems to regulate when the compensatory rest is to be taken or whether it must be continuous. It recalls that, in the absence of specific regulations in this connection, the weekly rest period risks to be unduly postponed or to be divided into excessively short periods. It is in this sense that Paragraph 3(a) of the Weekly Rest (Commerce and Offices) Recommendation, 1957 (No. 103), addresses the issue of the regularity of compensatory rest and suggests that special weekly rest schemes should ensure that persons to whom such schemes apply do not work for more than three weeks without receiving the rest periods to which they are entitled. The Committee therefore requests the Government to provide in its next report additional explanations as to how the compensatory rest is implemented in practice, and to specify whether any rules have so far been issued concerning the regularity and continuity of such rest.

Article 11. List of permanent and temporary exemptions. The Committee notes that sections 51(3), 52, 53 and 55 of the Working Environment Act authorize derogations from the normal weekly rest scheme on various grounds, such as special conditions, special type of work, and operational or production needs. The Committee therefore requests the Government to communicate, as required by this Article of the Convention: (i) an updated list of all categories of persons and types of establishments which are currently subject to special weekly rest schemes; and (ii) information on the circumstances in which temporary exemptions may be granted.

Part V of the report form. Application in practice. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would provide up to date information on the practical application of the Convention, including, for instance, statistics on the number of workers covered by the relevant legislation, labour inspection results showing the number of offences observed and penalties imposed in connection with weekly rest, copies of collective agreements containing provisions on weekly rest schemes, etc.