Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2001, published 90th ILC session (2002)

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Dominica (Ratification: 1983)

The Committee notes the Government’s report and the replies to its previous comments. The Government is asked once again to communicate a copy of the Employment Safety Act, which it indicates as forming an integral part of the revised legislation of 1990, and to provide additional information on the following points.

1. Article 3, paragraph 1, of the Convention. The Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate the measures taken to entrust the labour inspection services, in accordance with subparagraph (b), with the duty of supplying technical information and advice to employers and workers concerning the most effective means of complying with the legal provisions and, in accordance with subparagraph (c), that of bringing to the notice of the competent authority defects or abuses not specifically covered by existing legal provisions.

2. Article 3, paragraph 2. The Committee notes that, according to the Government, since the numbers of labour division staff are fairly low, possibilities for specialization in the performance of assigned duties are also limited. Referring to previous comments, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that any secondary duties entrusted to labour inspectors shall not be such as to interfere with the effective discharge of their primary duties, as provided for by subparagraphs (a) to (c) of Article 3, paragraph 1,or to prejudice in any way the authority and impartiality which are necessary to inspectors in their relations with employers and workers.

Article 12, paragraphs 1 and 2. The Committee asks the Government to indicate the arrangements made to ensure that labour inspectors provided with proper credentials are empowered to enforce the posting of notices required by the legal provisions (paragraph 1(c)(iii)) and to decide whether, on the occasion of an inspection visit, they should notify the employer or his representative of their presence, if they consider that such a notification may be prejudicial to the performance of their duties (paragraph 2).

Article 15. Noting that no information indicating how effect shall be given to subparagraphs (a) to (c) of this Article has been communicated, the Committee should like to emphasize that the confidence that is necessary in relations between labour inspectors and employers and workers greatly depends on these provisions. It expresses the hope that relevant measures will be taken in this regard and that the Government will not fail to provide information on them in its next report.

Article 18. Emphasizing the need to maintain dissuasive financial penalties to encourage better implementation of legal provisions, the Committee would be grateful if the Government would indicate the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that the amount of fines established by the Labour Standards Act and the Employment Safety Act to penalize violations of the legal provisions enforceable by labour inspectors and for obstructing labour inspectors in the performance of their duties, is periodically revised in order to take account of any monetary inflation.

Articles 20 and 21. The Committee notes that a project for setting up an information system on the labour market was due to be launched at the end of 2000 in the context of international technical assistance and that, through this project, labour officials would be trained in the fields of collection, analysis and recording of data. The Committee would hope that the Government will make the most of the abovementioned assistance to ensure that, in the near future, the central inspection authority will publish and communicate an annual inspection report as provided for by both the abovementioned provisions of the Convention.