Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2010, published 100th ILC session (2011)

Termination of Employment Convention, 1982 (No. 158) - Saint Lucia (Ratification: 2000)

The Committee notes that the Government’s report received in November 2010 repeats the information already provided in August 2009. In its 2008 and 2009 direct requests, the Committee noted that the Contracts of Service Act, No. 14 of 1970, gives effect to some of the provisions of the Convention. It also noted that the Labour Code of 2006, which was indicated by the Government as the instrument giving effect to the Convention, had not been enacted. The Committee urges the Government to take steps to ensure that each provision of the Convention is given effect. It asks the Government to provide a report indicating how full effect is given to each of the provisions of the Convention.

Article 2(3) of the Convention. Adequate safeguards against recourse to contracts of employment for a specified period of time. The Committee recalls that the Contracts of Service Act provides no safeguards against recourse to contracts of employment for a specified period of time. The Committee again asks the Government to indicate how effect is given to Article 2(3) concerning recourse to contracts of employment for a specified period of time, the aim of which is to avoid protection resulting from the Convention.

Article 2(4) and (6). Categories of employed persons excluded from the scope of the Convention. The Committee again asks the Government to provide information on how members of an employer’s family and public servants are provided protection that is at least equivalent to the protection afforded under the Convention.

Article 12. Severance payments. The Committee recalls that section 11 of the Contracts of Service Act provides that men are entitled to severance payments until the age of 65 and women are entitled to severance payments until the age of 60. The Committee again asks the Government to ensure that men and women are treated equally under each of the provisions of the Convention, such as regarding severance payments.

Articles 13 and 14. Terminations of employment for economic, technological, structural or similar reasons. The Committee recalls that section 35(1)(a) of the Registration, Status and Recognition of Trade Unions and Employers Organizations Act provides that a reasonable notice of intention must be given before the closure of the establishment. It again requests the Government to indicate what minimum period of notice, referred to in Article 14(3), is specified in national laws or regulations concerning termination of employment for economic, technological, structural or similar reasons.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2011.]