Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Slovakia (Ratification: 1993)

Article 1(a) of the Convention. Application of the principle to all elements of remuneration. The Committee recalls its previous comments with respect to section 118(2) of the Labour Code, 2006, which excluded from the definition of wages certain payments provided in relation to employment. The Committee notes with satisfaction that section 119(1) of the Labour Code, as amended in 2007 by Act No. 348/2007 Coll., now provides that wage conditions must be agreed without any form of sex discrimination and that this applies to all remuneration for work and benefits that are paid or shall be paid in relation to employment according to the other provisions of the Labour Code or special regulations. The Committee also takes note of the Government’s statement that section 119(1) extends the right to equal remuneration also to those payments which otherwise, within the meaning of section 118(2) of the Labour Code, would not be regarded as wages for labour law purposes.

Work of equal value. The Committee recalls its previous observation in which it noted that section 119(3) of the Labour Code, which provided for equal wages for work of an equal level of complexity, responsibility and difficulty, performed under the “same working conditions and upon achievement of the same efficiency and work results”, had been amended in 2007 to guarantee “equal wages for men and women for equal work or work of equal value”. The Committee notes that section 119(2) of the Labour Code, as amended in 2007 by Act No. 348/2007 Coll., now states that women and men have the right to equal pay for like work or work of equal value, which is considered as work of the same or comparable complexity, responsibility and arduousness, performed in the same or comparable working conditions, producing the same or comparable productivity and results for the same employer. Furthermore, section 119(3) states that if a system of job evaluation is being used, this must be based on the same criteria for men and women without sex discrimination; the employer may use other objectively measurable criteria in addition to those given in paragraph 2 if they can be applied to all employees without regard to sex. The Committee asks the Government to confirm that the wording “comparable working conditions, productivity and results” permit a comparison between jobs performed by men and women that are of an entirely different nature but nevertheless of equal value. It also asks the Government to provide copies of judicial decisions concerning the application of section 119 of the Labour Code, and in particular those decisions which show how the courts have interpreted the wording “comparable working conditions, productivity and results”.

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