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

Termination of Employment Convention, 1982 (No. 158) - Saint Lucia (Ratification: 2000)

The Committee notes the information contained in the Government’s report received in August 2009. The Committee also notes that the Government ratified the Convention in 2000 and submitted its first report in 2007. In that report it referred to the Labour Code of 2006 as the instrument giving effect to the Convention. The Committee recalls noting that the Labour Code had not been enacted and requesting details on the implementation of the Convention. In its reply, the Government now refers to the Contracts of Service Act, No. 14 of 1970, as a law giving effect to some of the provisions of the Convention but does not mention what has transpired in respect of the draft Labour Code of 2006 or how the other provisions of the Convention are being effected. The Committee urges the Government to take steps to ensure that every provision of the Convention is given effect. It asks the Government to give details of how it proposes to do so.

Article 2, paragraph 3, of the Convention. Adequate safeguards against recourse to contracts of employment for a specified period of time. The Government further indicates in its report that the Contracts of Service Act provides no safeguards against recourse to contracts of employment for a specified period of time. The Committee asks the Government to indicate how effect is given to Article 2(3) concerning recourse to contracts of employment for a specified period of time, the aim of which is to avoid protection resulting from the Convention.

Article 2, paragraphs 4 and 6. Categories of employed persons excluded from the scope of the Convention. The Committee notes that an employee who is a member of an employer’s family and public servants are excluded from severance payments under section 17 of the Contracts of Service Act. The Government indicates that public servants have recourse against unjustified dismissal through a system of appeals to the Public Service Commission. The Committee noted that the Government, in its first report, had excluded from the Convention persons engaged under a contract of employment as apprentices or for purposes of training and who have been so engaged for a period of less than 12 weeks. The Committee also noted in its previous comment that the parliamentary draft of the Labour Code provides that the Code will not be applicable to the Crown or to public servants. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on how members of an employer’s family and public servants are provided protection that is at least equivalent to the protection afforded under the Convention. Please indicate the position of law and practice regarding the excluded categories.

Article 12. Severance payments. The Committee notes that section 11 of the Contracts of Service Act provides that men are entitled to severance payments until the age of 65 and women are entitled to severance payments until the age of 60. The Committee asks the Government to ensure that men and women are treated equally under each of the provisions of the Convention, such as regarding severance payments.

Articles 13 and 14. Terminations of employment for economic, technological, structural or similar reasons. The Government reports that the Registration, Status and Recognition of Trade Unions and Employers Organizations Act requires employers to communicate in writing to workers’ representatives and the labour commissioner, the reasons for closure of the establishment and the number and category of workers that are affected by such closures. The Committee notes that section 35(1)(a) of the Act provides that a reasonable notice of intention must be given before the closure of the establishment. The Committee requests the Government to indicate what minimum period of notice, referred to in Article 14, paragraph 3, is specified in national laws or regulations concerning terminations of employment for economic, technological, structural or similar reasons.

[The Government is asked to reply in detail to the present comments in 2010.]