Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2018, published 108th ILC session (2019)

Slovakia

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) (Ratification: 2009)
Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129) (Ratification: 2009)

In order to provide a comprehensive view of the issues relating to the application of ratified Conventions on labour inspection, the Committee considers it appropriate to examine Conventions Nos 81 (labour inspection) and 129 (labour inspection in agriculture) together.

Article 3(2) of Convention No. 81, and Article 6(3) of Convention No. 129. Additional duties entrusted to labour inspectors. The Committee notes that according to the 2017 Report on the State of Work Protection, more time was spent by the labour inspection system performing inspections to control illegal employment than to perform inspections related to occupational safety and health (OSH). The Committee notes in this respect that the 2017 Report indicates that the labour inspection system cooperated with the specialized units of the Police Force (such as the Border and Alien Police Office; the Emergency Motor Vehicle Unit; Police and Criminal Police Officers; the Police Corps Presidium; the Risk Analysis and Coordination Division; the Risk Analysis and Statistics Department; the Human Trafficking Unit; the Centre for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and Crime Prevention; the National Unit for Combating Illegal Migration; and the Local and National Police) to monitor compliance with the prohibition of illegal employment and trafficking of third-country nationals. The Committee also notes the information from the 2017 Report that in 2017 the labour inspection system carried out 19,467 inspections on illegal employment and 14,885 labour inspections on legal provisions under the Labour Code relating to wages, hours of work, employment contracts, as well as employment relationships.

The Committee recalls that, pursuant to Article 3(1) and (2) of Convention No. 81 and Article 6 of Convention No. 129, the functions of the system of labour inspection shall be to secure the enforcement of the legal provisions relating to conditions of work and the protection of workers while engaged in their work, and any further duties which may be entrusted to labour inspectors shall not be such as to interfere with the effective discharge of their primary duties. In its 2006 General Survey, Labour inspection, paragraph 78, the Committee indicated that any function of verifying the legality of employment should have as its corollary the reinstatement of the statutory rights of all the workers if it is to be compatible with the objective of labour inspection, which is to protect the rights and interests of all workers and to improve their working. Referring to paragraph 452 of the 2017 General Survey on certain occupational safety and health instruments, the Committee reminds the Government that workers in a vulnerable situation may not be willing to cooperate with the labour inspection services if they fear negative consequences as a result of inspection activities, such as the loss of their job or expulsion from the country. The Committee requests the Government to take specific measures to ensure that the functions assigned to labour inspectors do not interfere with the main objective of labour inspectors to ensure the protection of workers in accordance with labour inspectors’ primary duties as provided for in Article 3(2) of Convention No. 81 and Article 6(3) of Convention No. 129. It also once again requests the Government to provide information on action undertaken by the National Labour Inspectorate to ensure the enforcement of employers’ obligations with regard to the statutory rights of workers found to be in an irregular situation. It further asks the Government to provide information on the number of cases in which workers found to be in an irregular situation have been granted their due rights, such as the payment of outstanding wages or social security benefits.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.