Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2008, published 98th ILC session (2009)

Weekly Rest (Industry) Convention, 1921 (No. 14) - Afghanistan (Ratification: 1939)

Article 4 of the Convention. Total or partial exceptions to weekly rest. The Committee notes with interest that a new Labour Code was adopted by the National Assembly on 21 April 2008. It notes that section 44(1) of the new Labour Code establishes the same exceptions to weekly rest as the draft Labour Code submitted to the Office in April 2007. Further to its previous comment, the Committee recalls that, in accordance with Article 4 of the Convention, these exceptions must be made with due regard not only to economic considerations but also to humanitarian considerations, and require prior consultation with the employers’ and workers’ organizations concerned. The Committee once again requests the Government to provide information on the manner in which humanitarian and economic considerations were taken into account when formulating section 44(1) of the Labour Code, as well as on the consultations held to that end with the social partners.

Article 5. Compensatory rest. The Committee notes that section 44(2) of the new Labour Code provides that, in the event of work performed on the weekly rest day by virtue of one of the exceptions referred to in section 44(2), the employer must pay the worker a sum equivalent to 50 per cent of his pay as an incentive, in addition to the overtime pay due to him as payment for the extra hours worked, but no provision is made for compensatory rest. The Committee also notes that section 45(2) of the Labour Code provides for the granting of an alternative day’s rest during the week or for the payment of compensation to the worker employed on the weekly rest day in a company engaged in an activity which cannot be interrupted. The Committee recalls once again that compensatory rest is warranted by the need to protect the health of the worker. It cannot therefore be replaced by cash compensation. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that sections 44(2) and 45(2) of the Labour Code better reflect Article 5 of the Convention, which provides that legislation must, as far as possible, provide for compensatory periods of rest for the suspensions or diminutions made in virtue of Article 4.