Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Protection of Wages Convention, 1949 (No. 95) - Montserrat

Articles 4 and 10 of the Convention. Partial payment of wages in kind – Attachment and assignment of wages. The Committee has been pointing out for many years that the Protection of Wages Act (No. 6 of 1962), Chapter 15:03, Revised Laws of Montserrat, does not give full effect to the provisions of the Convention concerning the partial payment of wages in kind and the protection of wages against attachment and assignment. Despite assurances given by the Government on numerous occasions (last in 1994 when the Government indicated that a draft bill had been prepared and was expected to be enacted the same year), no concrete progress has ever been reported in bringing the legislation in closer conformity with these Articles of the Convention. Under the circumstances, the Committee is obliged to recall that Article 4 of the Convention permits the partial payment of wages in kind through an authorization afforded by national laws or regulations, collective agreements, or arbitration awards but does not permit the parties to an employment relationship to provide for such payment by individual agreement. Therefore, provisions in national legislation under which an employer may agree with a worker to grant the latter benefits in kind in lieu of money wages are inconsistent with this Article of the Convention. In addition, Article 10 of the Convention requires, first, that the attachment or assignment of wages take place only in a manner and within limits prescribed by national laws or regulations and, second, that attachment or assignment should be kept within such limits as may be necessary for the maintenance of the worker and his/her family. In this connection, the Committee wishes to refer to paragraphs 105–160 and
272–293 of its General Survey of 2003 on the protection of wages which offer guidance concerning possible ways to attain legislative conformity with these provisions of the Convention. The Committee therefore asks the Government to take all necessary measures without further delay in order to give full effect to the requirements of Articles 4 and 10 of the Convention on which it has been commenting for some time past.