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

Hours of Work (Commerce and Offices) Convention, 1930 (No. 30) - Bolivia (Plurinational State of) (Ratification: 1973)

Article 7, paragraph 1(a), of the Convention. Permanent exceptions - intermittent work. The Committee notes that under section 46 of the General Labour Act of 1942, the rules on working hours laid down by the Act do not apply to wage earners who engage in discontinuous work. The Committee requests the Government to indicate the types of work covered by this exception.

Article 7, paragraph 2. Additional hours of work. The Committee notes from the information supplied by the Government in its report that the labour inspectorate is not, as the Committee said in its previous comments, authorized by section 50 of the General Labour Act to allow additional hours of work under any circumstances. It also notes that in support of that assertion, the Government refers to section 37 of Decree No. 244 of 1943 issuing implementing regulations for the General Labour Act, under which additional hours of work may be authorized only "in unforeseeable circumstances, to the extent necessary to avoid hindrance of the normal running of the establishment and to prevent accidents or carry out unpostponable repairs or adjustments on the machinery or plant". The Committee observes that the exception set forth in section 37 is covered by the exceptions allowed in Article 7, paragraph 2(a), of the Convention.

However, the Committee also notes two judgements of the Constitutional Court of Bolivia, attached to the Government’s report regarding Convention No. 1 (judgement No. 149 of 26 April 2002, Maria Lourdes Villegas de Aguirre v. Banco del Estado en Liquidación, and judgement No. 257 of 10 November 2001, Humberto Rodríquez v. Ex-Banco del Estado). In both decisions the Court held that the definition of overtime (horas extraordinarias) implied that such work was "out of the ordinary" and performed occasionally. The Court also ruled that it was for employers to prove that they needed to impose overtime and that overtime must be authorized by the labour inspector. The Committee notes that the above decisions make no reference to unforeseeable circumstances, accident prevention or urgent repair of machinery. The Committee accordingly understands that the instances in which additional hours of work may be allowed are not limited to those set forth in section 37 of Decree No. 244.

The Committee points out that Article 7, paragraph 2, of the Convention allows the granting of temporary exceptions to rules on working hours (apart from the cases of unforeseeable circumstances, accident prevention or urgent repair of machinery) only in the following cases: in order to prevent the loss of perishable goods or avoid endangering the technical results of the work; in order to allow for special work (stocktaking, preparation of balance sheets, closing of accounts, etc.); or to enable establishments to deal with cases of abnormal pressure of work due to special circumstances. While noting the Government’s statement that because of the present political and social crisis it is unable to ensure that new labour legislation will be enacted in the near future, but that it will make every effort gradually to amend the existing legislation on an ad hoc basis, the Committee again expresses the hope that the Government will take the necessary steps as soon as possible to give full effect to the Convention on this point. It strongly encourages the Government to contact the International Labour Office, and more particularly its regional office in Lima, in order to set up a specific technical assistance programme able to facilitate its search for solutions.

Part V of the report form. The Government is invited to continue to provide information on the application of the Convention in practice, including extracts of inspection reports and, if possible, data on the number and nature of breaches of the rules on working hours.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2006.]