Solicitud directa (CEACR) - Adopción: 2021, Publicación: 110ª reunión CIT (2022)

Repetition

Special measures to address the impact COVID-19. In its detailed report, the Government indicates that in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, it has enacted Decree-Law No. 96 of 31 May 2020 to introduce remote work in the Public Administration, including in the sector of socio-educational services. A new draft law will also be presented by 31 December 2020 to regulate remote work in a comprehensive manner.

Article 2. Branches of economic activity and categories of workers. Previously, the committee noted that section 5 of Act No. 40 of 1981 excludes domestic workers from the coverage of the provisions concerning maternity and parental leave. It asked the Government to provide information on the manner in which the principle of the Convention applies to this category of workers. The Committee notes the Government’s indication in its report that work is in progress to enact legislation regulating “caregivers”, which would include domestic workers. Recalling that the Convention applies to all branches of economic activity and all categories of workers, the Committee asks the Government to provide information on the progress made in the adoption of a legislation covering caregivers, including domestic workers and, in the meantime, to indicate how it is ensured that this category of workers, mainly women, enjoy the protection of the Convention.

Article 4(b). Measures to promote effective equality of opportunity and treatment for workers with family responsibilities. The Committee recalls that Act No. 137 of 2003 has amended Act No. 111 of 1994 (Maternity Leave/Family Supports), to extend the period of leave to which female employees are entitled following the expiration of the compulsory maternity leave. Women workers can request a period of leave up to 16 months during the first 18 months of the child’s life. They are entitled to receive 30 per cent of their net daily remuneration during the first year while for the remaining six months they have the right to 20 per cent of their remuneration in case the child does not benefit from childcare services. Moreover, both female and male employees may reduce their working day by two hours for a period of ten months while continuing to receive full pay. The Government refers to Act No. 43 of 31 March 2014 that provides for parental leave in case of child illness, as well as maternity and paternity leave, and the possibility of part-time work in cases of adoption. According to the Government, in 2018: 229 workers, including 142 women and 87 men changed their terms of employment from full-time to part-time during the first three years of their child’s life in application of Act No. 112 of 1994, whereas, in 2019, the number reached 227 workers, with 170 women and 57 men. The Government also indicates that parental leave is used almost entirely by women, except in cases where traumatic events occur due to childbirth or the health condition of the mother. This is mainly due to cultural factors that tend to perceive the mother as the first caregiver and the father as the breadwinner. Noting that, even where policies allow sharing of parental leave, in practice mothers still take the majority of this period, the Committee encourages the Government to continue to take measures to promote men’s use of parental leave with a view to enhancing a more equitable distribution of family responsibilities between men and women. The Committee asks the Government to provide statistical information, disaggregated by sex, on the extent to which men and women workers make use of the leave entitlements under the relevant provisions of Act No. 137 of 2003 Maternity Leave/Family Supports, both in the public and private sectors.

Article 5. Promotion of community services. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that seven public and five private nurseries exist in the country. According to the Government, to date, these structures, considering the birth rate, satisfy the requests of families and workers with family responsibilities. The Committee takes due note of this information.

Article 6. Promotion of public understanding of the principle of the Convention. The Committee notes an absence of information on this point. The Committee requests once again the Government to indicate the measures taken to promote public understanding of the principle of equality of opportunity and treatment for men and women workers with family responsibilities and to raise awareness of the specific difficulties faced by these workers.

Article 7. Vocational guidance and training. In response to its request for information on the measures taken or envisaged to enable workers with family responsibilities to become and remain integrated in the labour force, as well as to re-enter the labour force after an absence due to those responsibilities, the Government reports that, in the private sector, 36 workers (3 males and 33 females), attended foreign language courses in 2018, and 93 workers (6 males and 87 females) in 2019. The Committee requests the Government: (i) to provide detailed information on the different type of training offered to men and women workers with family responsibilities (in particular those who are at a particular disadvantage when endeavouring to obtain and maintain a job); as well as (ii) to indicate the manner in which measures already implemented have enabled workers with family responsibilities to become and remain integrated in the labour force. Please provide statistical data disaggregated by sex on the number of workers with family responsibilities who have benefited from employment services and active labour market measures.

General observation. The Committee draws the attention of the Government to its general observation adopted in 2019, recalling the relevance, importance and practical usefulness of the principles laid down in the Convention, and its accompanying Recommendation (No. 165), whose aim is to ensure that all workers with family responsibilities – women as well as men – are not disadvantaged in relation to other workers and, in particular, that women with family responsibilities are not disadvantaged in comparison to men with family responsibilities. Recalling the ILO Centenary Declaration for the Future of Work’s aim to achieve gender equality at work through a transformative agenda and stressing the importance of the Convention in achieving this goal, the Committee called for member States, and employers’ and workers’ organizations, to strengthen efforts towards specific goals.