Demande directe (CEACR) - adoptée 2008, publiée 98ème session CIT (2009)

Article 8, paragraphs 1 and 3, of the Convention. Temporary exemptions and compensatory rest. In reply to the numerous comments made by the Committee on this point, the Government indicates that section 48 of the draft amendment to the Labour Code provides that, in cases of force majeure declared by the employer, and after the Ministry of Labour has granted authorization for temporary exemptions to weekly rest, the persons concerned are entitled to periods of compensatory rest of a duration at least equivalent to that of the weekly rest period of which they have been deprived. Emphasizing that Article 8, paragraph 1, of the Convention, authorizes temporary exemptions from weekly rest only in well-defined cases (in case of accident, force majeure, urgent work to premises and equipment, abnormal pressure of work, or in order to prevent the loss of perishable goods), the Committee requests the Government to indicate the manner in which it is ensured that cases of force majeure declared by the employer do not go beyond the cases strictly defined by this Article. It also requests the Government to indicate clearly the persons to whom this amendment applies and to whom compensatory rest should apply.

Furthermore, the Committee recalls that the purpose of the Convention is to ensure that workers are granted a weekly rest period at regular intervals so that they enjoy a minimum period of rest and leisure time each week and that compensatory rest should therefore be granted as soon as possible or, in any case, within a reasonably short time after the work carried out on the weekly rest day. The Committee hopes that the Government will take these observations into account in the context of the revision of the Labour Code under way and requests the Government to provide a copy of the relevant revised provisions as soon as they have been adopted.

Part V of the report form. Practical application. The Committee notes the statistics provided by the Government concerning the number of inspections carried out and violations reported by the inspection services. It requests the Government to continue providing general information on the application of the Convention in practice, in particular statistical data on the number of workers covered by the legislation giving effect to the Convention, extracts from the reports of the inspection services indicating the number of violations of the rules relating to weekly rest which have been reported and the sanctions imposed in this regard, etc.