Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2005, published 95th ILC session (2006)

Holidays with Pay Convention (Revised), 1970 (No. 132) - Bosnia and Herzegovina (Ratification: 1993)

The Committee notes with interest the Government’s first detailed report on the application of the Convention and wishes to draw its attention to the following points.

Article 5, paragraph 4, of the Convention. The Committee notes that whereas section 42 of the Labour Law of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and section 33 of the Labour Law of the Brcko district expressly provide that absence from work due to temporary incapacity, maternity, military service or other leave not conditioned by the will of the employee may not be considered as a suspension of the qualifying period of service, no similar provision seems to exist in the labour legislation of the Republika Srpska. The Committee therefore requests the Government to clarify how it is ensured in this entity that absence from work for reasons beyond the worker’s control such as illness, injury or maternity must be counted as part of the qualifying period of service.

Article 7, paragraph 1. The Committee notes that only section 59 of the Labour Law of the Republika Srpska specifically provides that a worker is entitled to salary compensation in the amount of a full salary during annual leave, while section 41 of the Labour Law of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and section 32 of the Labour Law of the Brcko district merely refer to "paid" annual leave without any further precisions. The Committee therefore asks the Government to indicate how it is ensured in these two entities that workers on annual leave receive in respect of the full period of that leave at least their normal or average remuneration, as required under this Article of the Convention.

Article 7, paragraph 2. The Committee notes that there seems to exist no legislative provision in any of the three entities specifically requiring holiday pay to be remitted to the person concerned in advance of the holiday. It therefore asks the Government to provide clarifications in this regard.

Article 9, paragraph 2. The Committee notes that the labour laws of the three entities do not seem to regulate the possibility of deferring any part of the annual holiday which exceeds a specified minimum beyond the 18-month period and up to a further specified time limit. The Government is therefore requested to provide additional information in this respect.

Article 10. The Committee notes that under section 56 of the Labour Law of the Republika Srpska, while making an annual leave schedule for the enterprise, an employer may take into consideration justified wishes of workers and when necessary he/she may also request the works council or trade union to give their proposals on such schedule. However, no similar provisions appear to exist in the labour laws of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina or the Brcko district. The Committee therefore requests the Government to indicate the legal provisions giving effect to this Article of the Convention in these two entities.

Article 11. The Committee notes that there appears to be no provisions dealing with workers’ compensation for unused annual leave upon termination of employment. The Government is therefore requested to explain how this matter is regulated in law and practice.

Part V of the report form. The Committee would be grateful if the Government could supply general information on the manner in which the Convention is applied in practice in the three territorial entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including for instance statistics on the number of workers (broken down by sex and age) covered by the relevant legislation, extracts from reports of the inspection services showing the number and nature of contraventions reported, etc.