Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Saint Lucia (Ratification: 1983)

The Committee notes with deep concern that the Government’s report, due since 2014, has not been received. In light of its urgent appeal launched to the Government in 2020, the Committee proceeds with the examination of the application of the Convention on the basis of the information at its disposal.

The Committee notes that, in its 2019 report on the national-level review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, 1995 (Beijing +25 national report), the Government indicated that: (1) according to a national report of living conditions published in 2016, the labour force rates for women continued to be lower than for men (68.1 per cent compared to 81.8 per cent) with lower earnings for women in almost every case; and (2) although the rate of participation of women in the economy was increasing, it was still lower than that of men, with an increasing tendency towards job segregation reinforced by gender stereotypes. Despite a stronger educational performance of females – which could be expected to result in higher incomes than for males – a 2015 report from UN Women stated that women in Saint Lucia continued to be paid, on average, 10 per cent less than their male peers. According to the “Gender at Work in the Caribbean – Country report: Saint Lucia” published by the ILO Decent Work Team and Office for the Caribbean in 2018, this suggests systematic barriers to higher earnings, including discrimination.

Article 1(a) of the Convention. Definition of remuneration. The Committee recalls that the Equality of Opportunity and Treatment in Employment and Occupation Act, 2000, contains no definition of the term “remuneration”. The Committee notes the adoption of the Labour Code (Amendment) Act No. 6 of 2011, which amends section 95 of the Labour Code of 2006 to include the definition of “total remuneration” as “all basic wages which the employee is paid or is entitled to be paid by his or her employer in respect of labour performed or services rendered by him or her for his or her employer during that period of employment”. The Committee notes that section 2 of the Labour Code continues to exclude overtime payments, commissions, service charges, lodging, holiday pay and other allowances from the definition of wages. The Committee recalls that the Convention sets out a very broad definition of “remuneration” in Article 1(a) which includes not only “the ordinary, basic or minimum wage or salary” but also “any additional emoluments whatsoever payable directly or indirectly, whether in cash or in kind, by the employer to the worker and arising out of the worker’s employment” (see 2012 General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, paragraph 686). The Committee asks the Government to take the necessary measures to further amend section 95 of the Labour Code in order to ensure that at least for the purposes of the application of the principle of the Convention the concept of remuneration covers not only the basic wages, but also any additional benefit or allowance arising out of the worker’s employment.

Different wages and benefits for women and men. The Committee also notes with regret that the Labour Code (Amendment) Act No. 6 of 2011 did not repeal the existing laws and regulations establishing differential wage rates for men and women, nor did it revoke the Contract of Service Act which provides for different ages for men and women with respect to entitlement to severance pay. The Committee urges the Government to take measures without delay to ensure that all laws and regulations are repealed which contain differential wages for men and women, as well as the Contract of Service Act, which provides for different ages for men and women with respect to entitlement to severance pay. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on any development in this regard.

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