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

Protection of Wages Convention, 1949 (No. 95) - Costa Rica (Ratification: 1960)

The Committee notes the observations of the Costa Rican Federation of Chambers and Associations of Private Enterprise (UCCAEP) communicated with the Government’s report.

Article 3(1) of the Convention. Prohibition of the payment of wages in the form of vouchers, coupons or in any other form alleged to represent legal tender. With reference to its previous comments, the Committee notes that the Government reiterates that coffee payment vouchers are not used as a means of payment, nor replace payment in cash, but rather constitute a monitoring mechanism so that pickers on poorer plantations have tangible evidence of the amount in cash that they should receive from their employer at the end of the week. The Government indicates that this method is also a security guarantee for the producer against the risk of crime involved in keeping legal tender on some plantations. The Committee notes with regret that section 165 of the Labour Code, which provides that coffee plantations may pay workers with tokens representing legal tender, has not yet been amended. While noting the information provided by the Government on the details and reasons for such practices in the coffee sector, the Committee requests the Government to take all necessary measures, including through the labour inspection system and the establishment of adequate penalties for any infringements, to ensure that all workers in the coffee sector receive the whole amount of their wage in legal tender, at the end of the week, in accordance with the requirements of the Convention. The Committee also requests the Government to adopt without delay the necessary measures to amend section 165 of the Labour Code to guarantee the prohibition of the payment of wages in the form of promissory notes, vouchers, coupons, or in any other form alleged to represent legal tender, in accordance with Article 3(1) of the Convention. It also requests the Committee to provide specific information on any legislative changes adopted in this respect, and on the inspections carried out in coffee plantations, the infringements detected, and the penalties applied.

Article 4(2)(b). Fair and reasonable value attributed to allowances in kind. With regard to its previous comments, the Committee notes the Government’s reference to various rulings of the Second Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice concerning the requirements for allowances in kind, including the determination of the value of the wage in kind based on objective appraisal and wage-fixing parameters (ruling No. 00075-2004 of 11 February 2004) and the remunerative nature of allowances in kind (rulings Nos 00075-2004 of 11 February 2004 and 00611-2004 of 21 July 2004). The Committee also notes that section 166 of the Labour Code has not been amended to ensure that the value attributed to allowances in kind is fair and reasonable. The Committee recalls that Article 4(2) of the Convention imposes an obligation as to the result to be achieved and therefore requires the adoption of measures to ensure that any allowances in kind are attributed a fair and reasonable value, for example specific regulations establishing the value of the allowances in kind, or methods of determining or supervising the value attributed to them (2003 General Survey on protection of wages, paragraphs 153 and 160). In this regard, the Committee requests the Government to adopt the necessary measures to effectively guarantee that the value attributed to allowances in kind is fair and reasonable, in accordance with Article 4(2) of the Convention. It also requests the Government to provide information on the measures adopted in this respect.