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

Weekly Rest (Industry) Convention, 1921 (No. 14) - Belgium (Ratification: 1926)

Articles 4 and 5 of the Convention. Total or partial exceptions and compensatory periods of rest. The Committee recalls its previous comment in which it asked the Government to determine more precisely the circumstances in which recourse to the new working-time schemes is authorized in accordance with the Act of 17 March 1987, and to establish a reasonable period within which the compensatory rest period is to be granted in the event of Sunday work. In its reply, the Government states that there are few sectoral collective agreements that provide for fairly long time limits between the moment an employee is asked to work exceptionally on a Sunday and the granting of a rest period. The Government also specifies that many enterprises which have adopted new work schemes employ workers on the basis of a five-day week, which means that employees working on a Sunday benefit, in most cases, from another day of rest during the week. While noting the Government’s explanations, the Committee considers that, in its present wording, the extent of the exceptions to working-time arrangements authorized by the Act of 17 March 1987 go beyond the requirements of Article 4(1) of the Convention. Consequently, the Committee hopes that the Government will examine the possibility of introducing improvements in the legislation regulating the new work schemes in order to: (i) ensure that the exceptions to the general principle of the Sunday day of rest should only be authorized in limited circumstances; and (ii) to establish a reasonable time limit for granting compensatory time off to workers employed on a Sunday.

As regards the various Royal Orders establishing in specific sectors exceptions from the weekly rest scheme for workers employed on Sundays, the Committee notes that, according to the Government, these exceptions have been introduced at the express request of the social partners concerned who are in the best position to judge the economic and social considerations in their sector; and consequently, that an amendment of the regulations would only be feasible upon the request of the social partners concerned. The Committee wishes to recall in this respect that, although the Convention does not establish a time limit for granting compensatory time off, respect for the spirit of the Convention requires that it should be granted within a reasonably short time period. It is in this sense that Paragraph 3(a) of the Weekly Rest (Commerce and Offices) Recommendation, 1957 (No. 103) – which is not directly linked to this Convention but is nevertheless extremely relevant in this context – stipulates that persons to whom special schemes apply should not work for more than three weeks without receiving the rest periods to which they are entitled. The Committee therefore requests the Government once again to consider the possibility of establishing a time limit for granting weekly daily rest to the workers concerned that would reflect better the letter and spirit of the Convention.