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Holidays with Pay Convention (Revised), 1970 (No. 132) - Iraq (RATIFICATION: 1974)

1. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government's statement in its latest report that, in the opinion of the competent authority (the Ministry of Finance), the Convention does not apply to officials in the public service covered by the provisions of Act No. 24 of 1960. The Committee observes that the Government has been making this statement for several years despite the Committee's comments that the Convention applies to persons employed in the public service unless the Government specifically excludes them from the scope of the Convention. It therefore must once again emphasize that, with the exception of seafarers, no employed person is excluded from the scope of the Convention (see Article 2, paragraph 1, of the Convention) and that the Government did not indicate in its first report that it availed itself of the possibility of excluding officials from the application of the Convention (see Article 2, paragraphs 2 and 3). In this connection, it must reiterate its prior requests to the Government to provide in its next report detailed information on the following points:

(a) Article 9, paragraph 1. The Committee notes that section 43(3) and 48(3) of Act No. 24 of 1960 permit the accumulation of up to 180 and 100 days of leave respectively for officials and employees in the public service. The Committee recalls the Government's attention to the fact that under the Convention, a part of the holiday consisting of at least two uninterrupted working weeks must be taken no later than one year, and the rest of the holiday no later than 18 months, calculated from the end of the year in which the holiday entitlement arises.

(b) Article 11. The Committee observes that upon termination of the employment relation following dismissal or resignation (sections 45(1) and 49 of Act No. 24 of 1960), officials apparently do not benefit either from a paid holiday in proportion to the length of service or from paid compensation. The same applies to school employees who terminate their service during the first half of the school year (section 48(10)). The Committee must recall that under this Article of the Convention, an employed person who has completed a minimum period of service should, on termination for any reason, receive a holiday with pay proportionate to the length of service for which he or she has not received such a holiday, or compensation in lieu thereof, or the equivalent holiday credit.

The Committee hopes that the Government will re-examine its position and take the necessary measures in the near future to bring Act No. 24 of 1960 into conformity with the Convention.

2. With regard to the holiday provisions of the Labour Code (Act No. 71), 1987, the Committee repeats its requests to the Government to provide detailed information on the following matters:

(a) Article 6, paragraph 1, of the Convention. The Committee notes that there are apparently no national laws or regulations giving effect to this provision of the Convention, under which public and customary holidays shall not be counted as part of the three weeks' annual holiday with pay prescribed in Article 3, paragraph 3. In this respect, the Government has indicated that, in the absence of a relevant provision in the Labour Code, section 150 of the Code provides that the provisions of other laws and of ratified Arab and international labour Conventions shall apply. The Committee wishes to call the Government's attention to the fact that, so far as the provisions of the Convention are not self-executing and, more generally, to avoid any uncertainty regarding the state of the law, the surest solution is to bring the national legislation explicitly into harmony with the provisions of the Convention.

(b) Article 8, paragraph 2. The Committee notes that under section 69(II) of the Labour Code, 1987, only six continuous days of leave must be taken at one time, when leave has been divided. It recalls that Article 8, paragraph 2, of the Convention provides that, when annual holiday with pay may be broken into parts, one of the parts must consist of a minimum of two uninterrupted working weeks (unless otherwise provided in an agreement between the employer and the employee).

(c) Article 9, paragraph 1. The Committee observes that, in the event of the deferral of a part of the holiday (under the conditions set out in section 73(III) of the Labour Code, 1987), the worker is entitled to compensation. In this respect the Committee reiterates that this provision is not in conformity with Article 9, paragraph 1, of the Convention, according to which the remainder of the holiday shall be granted and taken no later than 18 months from the end of the year in which the holiday entitlement has arisen.

The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to bring the Labour Code, 1987, into conformity with the Convention on the above-mentioned points.

The Committee also trusts that the Government will supply detailed information in its next report on all legislative or regulatory action taken or contemplated to give full effect to all of the above provisions of the Convention.

The Government is asked to report in detail in 1996.