Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2019, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Protection of Wages Convention, 1949 (No. 95) - Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (Ratification: 1998)

Article 4 of the Convention. Partial payment of wages in kind. Further to its previous comments on this matter, the Committee notes that, while section 13(2) of the Wages Councils Act provides that wages regulation orders may contain provisions authorizing specified benefits or advantages to be reckoned as payment of wages by the employer in lieu of payment in cash, the 2017 Wages Regulation Orders do not make provision for such payment of wages in kind.

Articles 8 and 10. Deductions from wages. Further to its previous comments on this matter, the Committee notes that various provisions of the national legislation authorize deductions to be made from wages, such as deductions for advances on wages (section 3 of the Employers and Servants Act) or deductions made at the request of the worker, either for the purposes of a superannuation scheme or a thrift scheme or for any purpose in the carrying out of which the employer has no beneficial financial interest either directly or indirectly (section 13(1) of the Wages Councils Act). Noting that no specific limits are established in these pieces of legislation in relation to the amounts of possible deductions and that no overall limit exists in the legislation, the Committee recalls that, in addition to setting specific limits for each type of deduction, it is also important to establish an overall limit beyond which wages cannot be further reduced, in order to protect the income of workers in the case of multiple deductions. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the measures taken or envisaged in this regard.

Article 14. Payslips. Further to its previous comments on this matter, the Committee notes that the 2017 Wages Regulation Orders require employers to give to all workers a copy of their wage or salary record itemizing any deduction.