Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2005, publiée 95ème session CIT (2006)

Further to the comments it has been making for almost 25 years, the Committee notes that the Government, in its report, indicates that it will make every effort to amend its legislation as expeditiously as possible, taking into account national practice and the Committee’s comments. The Committee trusts that the Labour Code will be amended in the very near future so as to be brought into line with the Convention’s provisions in the way described below.

Articles 1 and 8 of the Convention. Postponement of annual paid holiday by the worker. The Committee notes that Article 75 of the Labour Code still allows the worker to forego his annual paid holiday for three consecutive years so that he can take it cumulatively in the fourth year. As the Committee pointed out in its General Survey of 1964 on annual holidays with pay (paragraph 177), the fact that the Convention provides for the obligation to grant workers "annual" holidays (Article 1) and prohibits the renunciation of this right (Article 8) is taken to mean that the postponement of holidays - which may nullify the whole purpose of the Convention - is not permitted. Should certain exceptions be considered as acceptable because they respond to the interests of both workers and employers, "it is essential to maintain the principle that, in the course of the year, the worker must be granted at least part of his leave in order to enjoy a minimum amount of rest and leisure". The Committee therefore requests that the Government take the necessary measures to ensure, in the event that the postponement of annual holiday continues to be permitted, that this will not affect a certain minimum part of the holiday, which must be granted each year.

The Committee is also a addressing a request directly to the Government on other points.