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

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Peru (Ratification: 1960)

The Committee notes the observations of the National Confederation of Private Business' Institutions (CONFIEP) communicated with the Government’s report, as well as the observations of the Autonomous Workers’ Confederation of Peru (CATP), the Confederation of Workers of Peru (CTP), the General Confederation of Workers of Peru (CGTP) and the Single Confederation of Workers of Peru (CUT-Peru), received on 1 September 2021. The Committee requests the Government to provide its comments in this regard.

Legislative developments. The Committee notes with interest the information provided by the Government on the adoption in 2020 of Act No. 31110 on the agrarian labour regime and incentives for the agrarian sector and irrigation, agricultural exports and agro-industry and its Regulations (Presidential Decree No. 005-2021-MIDAGRI), and that the latter establishes the prohibition of discrimination in remuneration between men and women working in the sector, and the obligation of the employer to evaluate and group together jobs in indices of categories and duties through the application of objective criteria based on the work performed, the skills necessary for its performance and the profile of the job, in accordance with the provisions of Act No. 30709. The Committee observes that, according to the report “Peru: Gender gaps 2020: Progress towards equality for women and men”, to which the Government refers in its report, agricultural and stock-raising activities have the highest gender pay gap by occupation. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the application in practice of the Regulations of Act No. 31110 in relation to the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value.

Monitoring and enforcement. The Committee notes that in its report the Government: (1) reports the adoption in 2019 of the Protocol for the enforcement of the requirements in relation to remuneration set out in Act No. 30709, which prohibits discrimination in remuneration between men and women (Superintendent Decision No. 234-2019-SUNAFIL); (2) refers to the objectives of enforcement and guidance in relation to fundamental rights contained in the Annual Labour Inspection Plan for 2019 (PLAIT 2019); and (3) reports that, according to the Labour Inspection Supervisory Authority (SUNAFIL) data, in 2021 a total of 110 inspection orders were implemented in relation to discrimination at work, and particularly in relation to the subtopics of “remuneration” (90 orders and 26 fines) and “on the basis of sex or gender” (19 orders and no fines). The Committee observes that, while both subtopics are relevant, neither clearly indicates the number of cases of discrimination in remuneration between men and women (as the first refers to remuneration and the second to discrimination on grounds of sex or gender). In this regard, the Committee notes that the CGTP, CUT-Peru, CTP and CATP indicate in their observations that: (1) the information provided by the Government does not indicate either the period covered by the data on inspection orders nor the results in terms of restoring or remedying the right to equal remuneration, except for the imposition of fines, nor does it specify the annual objectives of the PAIT in relation to equal remuneration; (2) according to the Statistical Yearbooks of the Ministry of Labour and Employment Promotion (MTPE), in 2019 and 2020 a total of 272 and 294 orders, respectively, were issued concerning “discrimination in relation to remuneration” and 29 orders each year on the “implementation of the index of categories and duties”, representing 0.47 per cent of all orders issued in 2019 and 0.48 per cent of the total in 2020; and (3) most inspection operations (83 per cent in 2020) were carried out in response to complaints or external requests, and not at the initiative or according to the programme of the inspection system. The confederations also emphasize that more capacity-building is required for labour inspectors on equal remuneration, as well as tools so that they can provide guidance to employers on the implementation of the principle of the Convention. The Committee recalls the importance of appropriate training programmes for labour inspectors to increase their capacity to prevent, detect and remedy cases of pay discrimination (see General Survey on the fundamental Conventions, 2012, paragraph 875). The Committee requests the Government to provide information on: (i) the application in practice of the Protocol for the enforcement of the requirements in relation to remuneration; and (ii) the specific measures taken to provide tools and capacity-building to labour inspectors relating to the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value, and the number of beneficiaries. In light of the nature of the statistics provided by the Government, the Committee also requests it to provide information on the number of cases identified by labour inspectors of clear and specific violations of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women, the penalties imposed and remedies granted, and any rulings on this subject by law courts or other competent bodies.