Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2022, published 111st ILC session (2023)

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - Cyprus (Ratification: 1960)

Article 3(2). Additional labour inspection duties entrusted to labour inspectors. In its previous comments, the Committee noted the Government’s indication that the Department of Labour Relations (DLR) is not the competent authority for the enforcement of immigration law but that it cooperates, within its remit, with the Cyprus Police when dealing with such cases. In this respect, the Government reiterates that the DLR and the Centralized Labour Inspectorate (CLI) gathered detailed information on the number of migrant workers covered by inspection visits in 2015, 2016 and 2017, including the number of “unregistered foreign employees” and the number of “illegal foreign employees” detected. The Committee notes, however, that these statistics are not reflected in the labour inspection reports. The Government also indicates that there is a clear separation between police duties and those of labour inspectors. During an inspection, inspectors will inform employees about their rights and investigate any possible violation of the law, irrespective of the legal status of the worker and of police presence at the inspection. The Government indicates that police and other authorities are informed in case of illegal employment. The Committee recalls once again that, pursuant to Article 3 of the Convention, the functions of the labour inspection system 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 on 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. The Committee once again requests the Government to take measures to ensure that the functions assigned to labour inspectors do not interfere with their main objective, which is to ensure the protection of workers while engaged in their work (as provided for in Article 3(1)), including taking further measures to separate labour inspectors from police activities related to migrant workers in an irregular situation. In this regard, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the proportion of labour inspectors’ time and resources that are spent on functions related to control of the regularity of employment of migrant workers. It also requests the Government to continue to provide information on specific measures undertaken by the inspectorate to ensure the enforcement of the rights of migrant workers found to be in an irregular situation. In this regard, the Committee requests the Government to provide information on the number of migrant workers in an irregular situation who have been granted their due rights (number of cases in which foreign workers have been paid outstanding wages and benefits) or where their situation has been regularized.

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