Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2021, published 110th ILC session (2022)

Protection of Wages Convention, 1949 (No. 95) - Republic of Moldova (Ratification: 1996)

Article 11 of the Convention. Wages as privileged debts in bankruptcy proceedings. In its previous comments, the Committee noted the Government’s indication that draft amendments to the Insolvency Act had been prepared providing that employees’ wage claims would be given a secured priority status among privileged debts. It also noted that, according to the National Confederation of Trade Unions of Moldova (CNSM)’s observations, in the event of insolvency, payment of secured debts such as loans have priority over wage claims and that, consequently, the wages of hundreds or even thousands of employees remain unpaid for years. The Committee notes that the Government’s report does not include any relevant information on the abovementioned legislative amendments or on the issues raised by the CNSM regarding the application of Article 11 of the Convention in practice. In this context, the Committee requests once again the Government to provide its comments on the observations of the CNSM and to provide information on any measures taken or envisaged in law and practice to ensure that wage claims are privileged debts in insolvency proceedings. The Committee reminds the Government of the possibility to avail itself of ILO technical assistance in this regard.

Article 12(1). Regular payment of wages. The Committee previously noted that the CNSM referred to statistical data showing important amounts of wage arrears for the period January–March 2017, with the largest debts registered in the railway transport, agriculture, trade, and construction sectors, mostly in enterprises with majority state capital. The Committee notes that the Government does not provide any relevant information in this regard. It also notes that, according to the statistics contained in the inspection reports: (i) in 2019, 56 inspection controls confirmed wage arrears of about 15 million Moldovan lei (MDL), concerning 1,106 workers; (ii) in 2020, 114 inspection controls confirmed wage arrears of about MDL 35 million, concerning 1,622 workers; and (iii) from January to August 2021, 258 inspection controls confirmed wage arears of MDL 39.4 million, concerning 3,569 workers. In this context, the Committee requests the Government to take the necessary measures to ensure the regular payment of wages, as required by this Article of the Convention. It also requests the Government to provide information on any progress made in this respect, as well as relevant statistics on this issue, including the violations detected, remedies applied, and sanctions imposed.