Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2013, published 103rd ILC session (2014)

Labour Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81) - North Macedonia (Ratification: 1991)

Article 3(1)(a) and (2) of the Convention. Functions entrusted to labour inspectors. Undeclared work. The Committee notes that, according to the Government, when inspectors detect the presence of workers in an irregular working relationship, they take administrative measures against the employers and transmit information on the workers to the Employment Service Agency and to the social security authorities, which then initiates procedures to remove them from the list of persons entitled to unemployment benefits and to cancel their social compensation. The Government indicates that, in 2012, 28,745 regular inspections were carried out. During the controls, inspectors detected 1,033 undeclared workers and submitted 941 requests for initiating a misdemeanour procedure against employers. The Government also indicates that irregularities were detected in 1,405 cases in relation to the payment of salaries, compensation and contributions and that, while a large number of irregularities were corrected after the inspectors intervened, the inspectors submitted requests for the initiation of misdemeanour procedures in 131 cases. The Committee refers to paragraphs 75–78 of its 2006 General Survey on labour inspection. It recalls that, in accordance with Article 3(2) of the Convention, additional duties that are not aimed at securing enforcement of the legal provisions relating to conditions of work and the protection of workers should be assigned to labour inspectors, only in so far as they do not interfere with their primary duties, and shall not prejudice in any way the authority and impartiality that are necessary in their relations with employers and workers. The function of verifying the legality of employment should therefore have as its corollary the reinstatement of the statutory rights of all workers.

The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the time and resources of the labour inspectorate spent on activities in the area of undeclared work in relation to activities spent on securing the enforcement of legal provisions relating to other areas (such as provisions relating to working hours, wages, safety and health, child labour, etc.) and to continue to provide relevant information on the number of inspections, violations found and legal provisions to which they relate, and penalties imposed.

Furthermore, the Committee requests the Government to provide detailed information on the manner in which the labour inspectorate ensures the enforcement of employers’ obligations with regard to the rights of foreign workers in an irregular situation, such as the payment of wages and social security and other benefits for the period of their effective employment relationship, especially in cases where such workers are liable to expulsion from the country. It also asks the Government to provide information on the number of cases where undocumented workers have been granted their due rights.

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