Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2005, published 95th ILC session (2006)

Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 1) - Libya (Ratification: 1971)

The Committee notes the Government’s latest reports and the information they contain in reply to its previous comments.

Article 1 of the Convention. Scope of application. The Committee requests the Government to supply copies of the following instruments: the Quarries and Mines Act No. 2/1971; the Industrial Organization Act, as amended; the Organization of Towns and Villages Act No. 5/1969; and the Commerce Act, 1953.

Article 6. Overtime. The Committee notes that section 87 of the Labour Code, as amended by Act No. 72 of 1972, still allows four hours’ overtime per day outside the specific cases provided in the Convention and without a weekly, monthly or annual limit. It also notes that, by virtue of the same provision, a worker is not entitled to a salary for overtime hours which he/she agrees to work beyond the prescribed limit except in the cases laid down by decision of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, whereas Article 6, paragraph 2, of the Convention stipulates payment of all overtime at not less than one and one-quarter times the regular rate. Noting that in its latest reports the Government no longer mentions the Labour Code revision process, the Committee expresses the firm hope that section 87 of the Labour Code will be amended in the near future in order to bring it into conformity with the provisions of the Convention on these two matters and requests the Government to keep it informed of any developments in this regard.

In addition, the Committee notes that, in reply to its previous comments on the payment of overtime for civil servants, the Government refers to a decision of 9 November 1977 by the General People’s Committee regulating overtime for public employees. However, the Committee’s comments referred to a communication of 21 July 1981 of the General People’s Committee, hence later than the aforementioned decision, in which it ordered all public administrations and enterprises to stop providing compensation for overtime. The Committee once again requests the Government to supply further information on this matter, indicating whether the aforementioned communication of 21 July 1981 is still applicable.

Furthermore, the Committee requests the Government to give a general appreciation of the manner in which the Convention is applied in practice, including, for instance, extracts from labour inspection services and, if possible, statistical data on the number of workers covered by legislation, the number and nature of contraventions recorded, the number of additional hours actually worked, etc.