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

Social Policy (Basic Aims and Standards) Convention, 1962 (No. 117) - Panama (Ratification: 1971)

In its previous comments on Article 12 of the Convention, the Committee noted that section 161(3) of the Labour Code regulates the deduction from wages for the repayment of advances on wages and that section 162 limits the attachment or garnishment of wages. It pointed out that Article 12 of the Convention requires the maximum amounts of advances on wages to be regulated by the competent authority (paragraph 1) and that any advance in excess of such amount be legally irrecoverable and may not be recovered by the withholding of amounts of pay due to the worker at a later date (paragraph 3). Noting that the above-mentioned provisions of the Labour Code do not fulfil these requirements, the Committee requested the Government to reconsider the adoption of legislative provisions to give effect to this Article of the Convention.

The Committee notes the Government's indication in its report that, no measures having yet been taken in this respect, the Government requested in November 1994 the multidisciplinary team of the ILO in San José to help it in elaborating draft amendments to the Labour Code with a view to bringing it into conformity with the ratified ILO Convention, including this Convention. The Committee hopes that necessary measures will be taken in the near future to bring the national legislation in line with the above provisions of the Convention. It requests the Government to indicate any progress made in this regard.