Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Holidays with Pay Convention (Revised), 1970 (No. 132) - Madagascar (Ratification: 1972)

Article 5(2) of the Convention. Minimum period of service for holiday entitlement. With reference to its previous comment, the Committee notes the Government’s reply to the effect that, in practice, workers can take 2.5 days’ holiday for each month of completed work even before their total service amounts to the minimum 12-month period stipulated by section 88(1) of the Labour Code. The Committee therefore requests the Government to take the necessary measures without delay to bring the national legislation into line with the practice that is generally followed.

Article 9(1) and (3). Postponement and accumulation of paid holiday. In its previous comment, the Committee drew the Government’s attention to the fact that section 88(4) and (5) of the Labour Code is not in conformity with the provisions of the Convention. The Committee notes that the Government’s latest report does not provide any new information on section 88(5) of the Labour Code, under the terms of which workers have the possibility of accumulating their whole holiday entitlement over a period of three years preceding retirement. Recalling that Article 9 of the Convention provides that part of the holiday must be granted and taken each year, while the remainder may be postponed for a limited period, the Committee once again requests the Government to take the necessary measures to bring the legislation into conformity with the Convention on this point.

Article 12. Prohibition on relinquishing annual holiday for financial compensation. The Committee notes the observations from the General Confederation of Workers’ Unions of Madagascar (FISEMA), received on 2 September 2013 and forwarded to the Government on 19 September 2013. FISEMA indicates that, despite the comments made by the Committee on this point in 2009, the texts sent for examination by the National Labour Council (CNT) in March 2013 do not include any draft amendments of the provisions of section 88 of the Labour Code. FISEMA also reports that certain free-zone companies try to “buy back” their employees’ holiday but that the labour inspection services take no action. FISEMA indicates that human resource officers in certain companies are encouraging workers to “sell” their holidays, under the pretext of poverty and the demands of production. The Committee requests the Government to transmit any comments it wishes to make in response to the observations made by FISEMA.