Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2011, published 101st ILC session (2012)

Employment Injury Benefits Convention, 1964 [Schedule I amended in 1980] (No. 121) - Uruguay (Ratification: 1973)

Articles 13, 14 and 18 of the Convention (in conjunction with Article 19). Calculation of benefits. The Committee notes with regret that, despite repeated previous requests, the Government has not supplied any kind of statistics in its reports to enable the calculation of cash benefits for partial incapacity (Article 13), for loss of earning capacity likely to be permanent (Article 14), and in the event of the death of the breadwinner (Article 18). The Committee would be interested to know what obstacles are preventing the Government from presenting the information required under Articles 13, 14 and 18 of the report form relating to the Convention. The Committee also requests the Government once again to provide information on the application in practice of section 8, second subsection, of Act No. 16074, including statistics on the amount of benefits granted to dependent workers of employers who are not insured.

Article 21. Review of the rates of long-term cash benefits. The Committee notes with regret that the Government’s report received in September 2011 does not contain any reply to the comments made in its observations of 1999, 2000 and 2008 concerning the provision of statistics in relation to Article 21 of the Convention. The Committee observes that the Government merely repeats, in its reports of 2008 and 2011 with regard to Article 21, that the form in which, and the interval at which, temporary benefits are paid are adjusted according to variations in the wage used as the basis for calculation. The Committee therefore once again requests the Government to provide the statistical information corresponding to the 2000–11 period, as requested in the report form, so that the Committee is able to assess whether the rates of long-term cash benefits are reviewed following changes in the cost of living or general level of earnings. As the Committee has explained before, an assessment of the information provided for in the report form is essential to enable the Committee to reach conclusions with regard to the application in practice of Article 21 of the Convention.

Article 9. Abolition of the three-day waiting period. Article 11. Medical assistance at home. Referring to its previous comments relating to the three-day waiting period for the payment of cash benefits, provided for in section 19(V) of Act No. 16074 of 1989, the Committee hopes that the Government will take gradual steps to abolish this waiting period and thus bring its legislation into line with Article 9(3) of the Convention. Moreover, the Committee observes that the provisions of section 11(2) of Act No. 16074 of 1989 are not in conformity with the provisions of Article 10(a) of the Convention, because section 11 of the aforementioned Act provides for the transfer of any worker who has suffered an occupational accident from the medical assistance centre to his home and vice versa, whereas the obligation laid down in the Convention refers to the provision of medical assistance at the home of the worker, if necessary. The Committee is therefore bound to reiterate the hope that the Government will take the necessary measures to give full effect to the abovementioned provisions of the Convention.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2012.]