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

Weekly Rest (Industry) Convention, 1921 (No. 14) - Luxembourg (Ratification: 1928)

Other comments on C014

Direct Request

2013
2009

Replies received to the issues raised in a direct request which do not give rise to further comments

2021

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Articles 4 and 5 of the Convention. Total or partial exceptions – Compensatory rest. In reply to the Committee’s previous comment, in which it noted that section L.231-11 of the Labour Code and section 1 of the Grand-Ducal Regulations of 26 July 1966 provide for workers to be given additional annual leave when it is not possible to grant them the normal uninterrupted weekly rest period of 44 hours, the Government indicates that no provision of the Labour Code ensures that the workers concerned benefit from a minimum period of rest of 24 consecutive hours in each week. The Committee also notes the Government’s indication that the rest period of 44 hours may be calculated, for certain branches or specific enterprises, on the basis of a reference period longer than a week, as determined by the labour and mine inspection services, when it is required for operational reasons or in the event of the legitimate preferences of the personnel. While observing that these exemptions to the normal weekly rest scheme envisage the intervention of the labour and mine inspection services as a monitoring body, the Committee nevertheless notes that the scope of application and the reasons for adopting such arrangements are set out in very broad terms and that their application could lead to situations that are potentially abusive and harmful to the health of workers, due to the postponement of the weekly rest for excessively long periods. In this respect, the Committee is bound to recall that the principles of regularity (24 hours of rest in every period of seven days), continuity (a rest period of at least 24 consecutive hours) and simultaneity (the same rest day for everyone) of weekly rest, clearly established in the Convention, are aimed at protecting workers’ health and allowing them to balance their private and professional lives. In this respect, the Committee recalls that, according to the letter and the spirit of the Convention, any exceptions to weekly rest should be limited to what is strictly necessary, and that workers should enjoy a minimum period of rest and leisure each week or, in any event, at reasonably close intervals. It refers on this point to Paragraph 3(a) of the Weekly Rest (Commerce and Offices) Recommendation, 1957 (No. 103), which suggests that persons to whom special schemes apply should not work for more than three weeks without receiving the periods of rest to which they are entitled. Consequently, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on any measures that it intends to adopt to ensure, in law and practice, that workers receive, as far as possible, a minimum period of rest of 24 consecutive hours each week, in compliance with the letter and spirit of the Convention. It would also be grateful if the Government would provide information on the discussions held and the recommendations made by the Standing Committee on Labour and Employment (CPTE) with respect to the study carried out by the CEPS/INSTEAD on the effect of the provisions of the Labour Code relating to the reference period and average weekly hours of work on the labour market, and, provide a copy of this study.