Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2018, published 108th ILC session (2019)

Romania

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) (Ratification: 1973)
Labour Inspection (Agriculture) Convention, 1969 (No. 129) (Ratification: 1975)

In order to provide a comprehensive view of the issues relating to the application of ratified Conventions on labour inspection, the Committee considers it appropriate to examine Conventions Nos 81 (labour inspection) and 129 (labour inspection in agriculture) together.

Article 3(1) and (2) of Convention No. 81 and Article 6(1) and (3) of Convention No. 129. Control of undeclared work and the protection of foreign workers in an irregular situation. The Committee notes that, in accordance with the new Government Ordinance (GO) No. 488/2017 on the organization and functioning of the labour inspectorate, labour inspectors are entrusted with detecting undeclared work of foreign or posted workers (section 12) and perform inspections separately from, as well as in collaboration with, the General Inspectorate for Immigration. GO No. 488/2017 provides that employers bear liability, including joint and several liability, to principal and intermediate subcontractors for overdue wages of foreign workers engaged in undeclared work, including those in an irregular situation. The annual labour inspection report for 2017 indicates that in 2017, a total of 1,210 controls related to undeclared work of foreign workers were carried out and 37 sanctions (including warnings) and 111 measures were ordered. However, the Committee notes that the Government’s report does not indicate whether such orders include those requiring the establishment of employment contracts or ensuring other statutory rights granted to foreign nationals engaged in undeclared work, such as the payment of overdue wages and other benefits resulting from their work. The Committee recalls that the functions of the system of labour inspection are to secure the enforcement of the legal provisions relating to conditions of work and the protection of workers while engaged in their work, and that any further duties which may be entrusted to labour inspectors shall not be such as to interfere with the effective discharge of their primary duties. In its 2006 General Survey, Labour inspection, paragraph 78, the Committee indicated that any function of verifying the legality of employment should have as its corollary the reinstatement of the statutory rights of all the workers if it is to be compatible with the objective of labour inspection, which is to protect the rights and interests of all workers and to improve their working conditions. Referring to paragraph 452 of the 2017 General Survey on certain occupational safety and health instruments, the Committee recalls that workers in a vulnerable situation may not be willing to cooperate with the labour inspection services if they fear negative consequences as a result of inspection activities, such as the loss of their job or expulsion from the country. The Committee requests the Government to take specific measures to ensure that the functions assigned to labour inspectors do not interfere with the main objective of labour inspectors to ensure the protection of workers in accordance with labour inspectors’ primary duties as set forth in Article 3(2) of Convention No. 81 and Article 6(3) of Convention No. 129. It requests the Government to provide information on measures undertaken by the inspectorate to ensure the enforcement of the rights of foreign workers found to be in an irregular situation. It further requests the Government to provide information on the number of cases in which workers found to be in an irregular situation have been granted their due rights, such as the payment of outstanding wages or social security benefits, or orders for the establishment of an employment contract.

The Committee is raising other matters in a request addressed directly to the Government.