Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Holidays with Pay Convention, 1936 (No. 52) - Cuba (Ratification: 1953)

Article 4 of the Convention. Prohibition to relinquish the right to an annual holiday with pay. The Committee recalls its numerous comments over the past 30 years drawing the Government’s attention to section 98 of the Labour Code, which allows the State Labour and Social Security Committee, as an exceptional measure because of the requirements of production of goods or supply of services, to authorize the administration to agree with one or more workers to pay them cash in lieu of their holidays without taking any time off if they voluntarily accept this arrangement. The Committee has consistently taken the view that this provision is inconsistent with Article 4 of the Convention, which expressly prohibits any agreement to relinquish the right to an annual holiday with pay, or to forgo such a holiday – a principle that is also reflected in Article 12 of the Holidays with Pay Convention (Revised), 1970 (No. 132), that the Government is strongly encouraged to ratify. In its latest report, the Government reiterates that section 98 of the Labour Code is no longer applied in practice and that, in any event, under section 95 of the Labour Code, employers must ensure that workers take not less than seven days’ paid leave during the working year. While noting the Government’s explanations that the provision in question has fallen into desuetude and that no authorizations to replace holidays with monetary compensation have been granted in recent years, the Committee trusts that the Government will consider at the next suitable occasion the possibility to amend section 98 of the Labour Code or to specify that this section cannot be applied to the minimum holidays provided for in section 95 of the Labour Code.