Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2019, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Home Work Convention, 1996 (No. 177) - North Macedonia (Ratification: 2012)

Article 4(2)(e) and (f) of the Convention. Social security protection and access to training. In response to the Committee’s previous comments, the Government indicates that, although not explicitly referred to in the Labour Law, as workers in an employment relationship, homeworkers have the same social insurance rights as other workers. The Government indicates that a new Labour Law is being drafted which will include detailed regulation of home work and will set out the required content for employment contracts for home work. It adds that the new Labour Law will also regulate the method of training and professional development of homeworkers, with a view to ensuring that full effect is given to the Convention. The Committee requests the Government to provide a copy of the new Labour Law once it has been adopted and to indicate the manner in which effect is given to Article 4(2)(e) and (f) of the Convention in practice.

Article 7. Occupational safety and health. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that employers are required to submit the employment contract for home work to the labour inspection authorities within three days of concluding the contract. Moreover, the labour inspection authorities have the requisite authority to inspect the premises identified in the employment contract as the place where home work is being performed outside the employer’s premises. The Committee notes, however, that the Government has provided no response to the Committee’s 2014 request, which it repeated in 2019, for information with respect to measures taken to give effect to this Article of the Convention, ensuring that national laws and regulations on safety and health at work apply to home work, taking account of its special characteristics. The Committee once again requests that the Government provide information on the manner in which effect is given to this provision of the Convention and to specify the relevant measures taken in this regard. In addition, the Committee requests the Government to provide information concerning the number and outcome of inspections carried out during the reporting period of premises where home work is being performed.

Article 8. Use of intermediaries. The Government refers to the Law on Private Employment Agencies No. 113/18, which regulates the assignment of workers to a particular employer by a private employment agency having a license for temporary employment. It adds that the Law makes no distinction based on the place where the work is being performed, indicating that workers can therefore also be assigned to home work should the employer so require. The Government indicates that the rights deriving from the employment relationship as provided for in the general regulations on employment and occupational safety and health also apply to temporary workers assigned by the licensed private employment agency. Noting the Government’s indication that the use of intermediaries in home work is permitted in North Macedonia, the Committee requests the Government to communicate the laws, regulations or judicial decisions, as appropriate that establish and allocate the respective responsibilities of employers and intermediaries, as required under Article 8 of the Convention.