Observation (CEACR) - adoptée 2024, publiée 113ème session CIT (2025)

Convention (n° 100) sur l'égalité de rémunération, 1951 - Jamaïque (Ratification: 1975)

Articles 1(b) and 2(2)(a) of the Convention. Equal remuneration for work of equal value. Legislation. The Government confirms, in its report, that the Employment (Equal Pay for Men and Women) Act 1975 (the Act) is being reviewed. The Committee welcomes the Government’s intention to conduct a comparative analysis of international and regional best practices as part of this legislative reform process. It notes that in its November 2023 concluding observations, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) expressed its concern regarding the Act’s lack of implementation of the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value, and its non-explicit prohibition of gender-based discrimination in recruitment, career development and vocational training and in relation to job security (CEDAW/C/JAM/CO/8, 15 November 2023, paragraph 30(b)). The Committee consequently notes the Government’s reply to the CEDAW list of issues and questions and its statement that the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MLSS) has been awaiting, since the 2019–20 fiscal year, a Policy Directive on whether to proceed with the proposed amendments to the Act to bring it into conformity with the Convention (CEDAW/C/JAM/RQ/8, 31 July 2023, paragraph 6). The Committee again urges the Government to take the necessary steps to ensure that, as part of the review of the Employment (Equal Pay for Men and Women) Act of 1975, its equal pay provisions are amended and brought in line with the Convention: (i) by giving full legislative expression to the principle of equal pay for men and women for work of equal “value”; and (ii) by extending the application of this principle beyond the same employer. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the steps taken to this end.

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