Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 1995, published 83rd ILC session (1996)

Protection of Wages Convention, 1949 (No. 95) - Panama (Ratification: 1970)

The Committee has noted the Labour Code (Cabinet Decree No. 252 of 1971) as amended most recently by Act No. 44 of 12 August 1995.

The Committee notes that, under section 142, paragraph 5 of the Code, the payment made by the employer to the workers as various allowances, for instance, increases of the thirteenth month, production premiums, are not considered as wage. It notes however that the definition of the term "wage" given in section 140 includes not only what is paid in cash or in kind, but also ex gratia payments, bonuses, wage supplement emoluments, commissions, profit sharing and in general any income or benefits received by the worker on account of work or as a consequence of it.

The Committee recalls that Article 1 of the Convention defines "wages" as "remuneration or earnings, however designated or calculated, capable of being expressed in terms of money ... which are payable ... by an employer to an employed person ...". It requests the Government to reconcile the above two provisions of the Code and to indicate, if those allowances are excluded from the definitions of wage by virtue of section 142, the measures taken or envisaged to ensure the protection of their payment.