Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2002, published 91st ILC session (2003)

Private Employment Agencies Convention, 1997 (No. 181) - Spain (Ratification: 1999)

The Committee takes note of the Government’s first report on the application of the Convention. The Committee would be grateful if the Government in its next report would include information on the following matters.

Article 7 of the Convention. The Government in its report refers to the provisions of section 12, paragraph 4, of Act No. 14/1994 with respect to temporary employment agencies, according to which any clause in a contract of employment is invalidated if it requires the worker to pay the agency any sum in connection with selection, training or recruitment. The Committee recalls that section 2 of Royal Decree No. 735 of 5 May 1995, which regulates the activities of non-profit-making employment agencies and the integrated employment services, provides that "any remuneration received (by the agencies) from the employer or the worker shall be strictly limited to the costs incurred as a result of the services provided". The agency’s income and expenditure budget must specify "the fees to be paid by the employer or workers for each service provided" (section 11(f) of Royal Decree No. 735).

The Committee notes that authorization for exemptions from the provision of paragraph 1 of the Convention - according to which private employment agencies must not charge workers any form of fee or payment, either directly or indirectly - is subject to the condition that the exemption be "in the interests of the workers concerned" and apply only to "specified categories of workers and certain clearly defined services provided by the private employment agencies in question" (paragraph 2). Paragraph 3 of the Convention requires that reports on the application of the Convention include information on these exemptions and the reasons for them. The Committee would therefore be grateful if the Government in its next report would indicate the categories of persons and the types of services for which workers may be required by agencies to pay fees, and which organizations of employers and workers have been consulted on this matter.

Article 8, paragraph 1. The Government in its report states that there is no special provision regarding the recruitment of migrant workers by temporary employment agencies, and the general provisions governing the employment of migrant workers are therefore applicable. The Committee would be grateful if the Government in its next report would indicate what measures have been taken to ensure that migrant workers recruited or placed in employment by private employment agencies enjoy adequate protection and are not subjected to abuses.