Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Macau Special Administrative Region

Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 1) (Ratification: 1999)
Weekly Rest (Industry) Convention, 1921 (No. 14) (Ratification: 1999)
Weekly Rest (Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1957 (No. 106) (Ratification: 1999)

Previous comment on Convention No. 1Previous comment on Convention No. 14Previous comment on Convention No. 106

In order to provide a comprehensive view of the issues relating to the application of the Conventions on working time, the Committee considers it appropriate to examine Conventions Nos 1 (hours of work (industry)), 14 (weekly rest (industry)) and 106 (weekly rest (commerce and offices)) together.

Hours of work

Articles 2(b) and (c), 4 and 5 of Convention No.1. Variable distribution of working hours. Further to its previous comments, the Committee notes that the Government in its report refers to section 33(2) of Law No. 7/2008, which provides that the employer may, depending on the characteristics of the operation of the undertaking, agree with the worker that the daily working period exceeds the limits of 8 hours per day, provided that the worker has 10 consecutive hours of rest per day, totalling not less than 12 hours, and that the working period may not exceed 48 hours per week. The Committee also notes that under section 40(3) of the Law No. 7/2008, the organization of shift work shall be subject to the maximum limits of the normal working period and shall guarantee the worker 10 consecutive hours of rest per day, totalling not less than 12 hours, and the working hours may be fixed with continuous or interspersed working periods. In this respect, the Committee recalls that the averaging of hours of work in general is authorized in the Convention only over a reference period of one week, and provided that a daily limit of nine hours is required (Article 2(b)); in all the other cases in which the averaging of working hours is allowed over reference periods longer than a week, the circumstances are clearly specified, as follows: (i) in case of shift work, it shall be permissible to employ persons in excess of 8 hours in any 1 day and 48 hours in any 1 week, if the average number of hours over a period of three weeks or less does not exceed 8 per day and 48 per week (Article 2(c)); (ii) in those processes which are required by reason of the nature of the process to be carried on continuously by a succession of shifts, the daily and weekly limit of hours of work may be exceeded subject to the condition that the working hours shall not exceed 56 in the week on the average (Article 4); and (iii) in exceptional cases where it is recognized that the limits of 8 hours a day and 48 hours a week cannot be applied, but only in such cases, agreements between workers’ and employers’ organizations concerning the daily limit of work over a longer period of time may be given the force of regulations, provided that the average number of hours worked per week, over the number of weeks covered by such an agreement, shall not exceed 48 (Article 5). Therefore, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to bring the above provisions of the Law No. 7/2008 into conformity with the requirements of the Convention, and to provide information on any progress made in this regard.

Article 6. Temporary exceptions. Circumstances and limits. The Committee observes that section 36 of the Law No. 7/2008 providing for overtime: (i) only prescribes the circumstances under which an employer may request an employee to work overtime without the employee’s consent and remains silent on the circumstances under which resort to overtime can be made with the employee’s consent; and (ii) does not seem to fix any clear limits to additional hours. The Committee also observes that section 37(2) of the Law No. 7/2008 provides that additional hours performed at the request of the employer with the consent of the worker or at the initiative of the worker with the consent of the employer are remunerated at a rate 20 per cent higher than normal hours. The Committee recalls that: (i) temporary exceptions to normal hours of work are authorized in the Convention in very limited and well-circumscribed cases; (ii) regulations shall fix the maximum of additional hours; and (iii) the rate of pay for overtime shall not be less than one and one-quarter times the regular rate. Therefore, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures, including the revision of Law No. 7/2008, to: (i) define the exceptional circumstances under which normal hours of work may be temporarily increased in industrial establishments; (ii) fix the maximum of additional hours allowed; and (iii) provide a rate of pay for overtime at least one and one-quarter times the regular rate, in accordance with this Article of the Convention.

Weekly rest

Articles 4 and 5 of Convention No. 14 and Articles 7 and 8 of Convention No. 106. Exceptions and compensatory rest. Following its previous comments on sections 42.2 (flexible weekly rest scheme) and 43.3 (work voluntarily performed by workers on their weekly rest day) of the Law No. 7/2008, the Committee notes that the Government indicates in its reports that: (i) due to the nature of the activities in industry and enterprises, and in order to promote the sustainable development of the society, a more flexible approach is adopted in the law to regulate the weekly rest days, while balancing the interests of both employers and employees; (ii) the 2020 amendment of Law No. 7/2008, adds the requirement of recording the workers’ voluntariness to perform work on weekly rest day; (iii) the provision does not provide for overtime remuneration as compensation for work performed on weekly rest day, but rather the compensatory rest should take precedence; and (iv) since the compensatory rest must be taken within 30 days of work, if the compensatory time off cannot be taken, the provision provides for overtime remuneration instead. The Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures, including the revision of Law No. 7/2008, to ensure that in case of exceptions to the principle of weekly rest, all workers working it their weekly rest day benefit in respect of each period of seven days, to rest of a total duration at least equivalent to 24 consecutive hours, irrespective of any monetary compensation.