Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2002, published 91st ILC session (2003)

Protection of Wages Convention, 1949 (No. 95) - Cyprus (Ratification: 1960)

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report.

The Committee notes the Government’s indication that it intended to give effect to the provisions of the Convention through the law transposing Council Directive 91/533/EEC on an employer’s obligation to inform employees of the conditions applicable to the contract or employment relationship, but this has not been achieved. The Committee wishes to note in this respect that the objective of the above Directive is limited to the obligation of employers to inform workers and that it would not therefore, even if transposed into domestic law, provide a basis for complying with all the provisions of the Convention. Such a transposition would only give partial effect to Article 14(a) of the Convention.

The Committee also notes the Government’s statement acknowledging the importance of adopting the necessary legislative measures to give effect to the Convention and that it considers them to be one of its priorities. In this respect, the Committee notes that a tripartite technical committee of the Labour Advisory Board is currently examining draft legislation to give effect to the provisions of the Convention and that the above committee is expected to submit a proposal to the Board by the end of this year. The Committee recalls in this respect that the Government had already indicated in its report in 1973 that a similar approach had been initiated. The Committee feels bound to express its continued regret that the work of such a technical committee has not, since that time, resulted in the adoption of a legislative text giving effect to the provisions of the Convention.

The Committee therefore hopes that the Government will take the necessary measures without more ado to give full effect to the provisions of Article 3 (payment of wages in legal tender), Article 4 (restrictions on the partial payment of wages in kind), Article 6 (freedom of workers to dispose of their wages), Article 8 (restrictions on deductions from wages), Article 10 (restrictions on the attachment or assignment of wages), Article 13 (time and place of the payment of wages) and Article 15(d) (maintenance of wage records) of the Convention.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2003.]