Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2008, published 98th ILC session (2009)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Colombia (Ratification: 1963)

Article 1(a) of the Convention. Concept of remuneration. In its previous comments, the Committee noted a communication of 15 August 2007 from the Single Confederation of Workers of Colombia (CUT) and stated that it would deal with it together with the Government’s comments. These were received on 18 March 2008. The CUT indicates that section 15 of Act No. 50 of 1990 amending the Substantive Labour Code expressly precludes any share in profits from being counted as wages. It also allows the exclusion from wages of “regular or occasional benefits or allowances established under agreements on contracts or otherwise granted by the employer on a non-statutory basis where the parties have expressly provided that these constitute wages in cash or in kind, such as food, accommodation or clothing, non-statutory bonuses for holidays, services or Christmas”. The CUT asserts that by excluding indirect payments and allowing, upon agreement, some regular or occasional benefits or allowances to be excluded from wages, Act No. 50 paved the way for discrimination in remuneration based on sex. The Committee observes that the Government has sent no information regarding this matter. The Committee recalls that as long ago as 1994, it referred to section 15 of Act No. 50. It noted that according to the interpretation of the abovementioned provisions given by the Supreme Court of Justice on 12 February 1993, premiums, bonuses or awards, the reimbursement of costs and allowances in kind, do not constitute wages in the legal sense but are nonetheless benefits arising out of employment. It pointed out that the principle of equal remuneration for men and women established in the Convention applies not only to wages but also to any additional emolument in cash or in kind payable to the worker and arising out of the worker’s employment, and it asked the Government to ensure that this principle was applied in practice. The Committee notes the CUT’s comment that the problem persists. It points out that regardless of the other effects of the Supreme Court’s interpretation, for the purposes of determining remuneration as defined in the Convention, with a view to ensuring equality of remuneration between men and women for work of equal value, account must be taken not only of the wage or salary but also “any additional emoluments whatsoever payable directly or indirectly, whether in cash or in kind, by the employer to the worker and arising out of the worker’s employment”. The Committee once again asks the Government to take the necessary steps to ensure that this principle is applied effectively and to provide detailed information on this matter, together with replies to the Committee’s comments of 2007.