Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2020, published 109th ILC session (2021)

Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) - Sierra Leone (Ratification: 1968)

The Committee notes the information provided by the Government in its report in reply to the questions of the report form. It notes, however, that the Government did not reply to the requests the Committee made in its previous comment. The Committee is therefore bound to repeat these requests, insofar as is necessary in view of the information provided and developments at the national level.

Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention. Application of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value in law. In its previous comment, the Committee noted that a draft Labour Act was prepared in 2017 and submitted to the ILO for technical comments. Hoping that the new Labour Act would soon be adopted, the Committee asked the Government to take the necessary measures to raise awareness of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value among workers, employers, labour officials and judges. The Committee, with reference to its comments under the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111), notes that the new Labour Act has not yet been adopted. The Committee asks the Government to provide information on the status of the Labour Bill. It also reiterates its requests to the Government to take the necessary measures to raise awareness of the principle of equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value among workers, employers, labour officials and judges, such as disseminating training material and organizing specific training sessions.

Objective job evaluation. Public sector. Previously, the Committee requested the Government to provide information on the progress made in job evaluation exercises and the establishment of a new pay structure and to indicate how it was ensured that this evaluation was free from gender bias and that skills typically identified with women were not overlooked or undervalued. The Committee notes that the Government’s report does not contain any information on the above issues. It notes, however, that the President of the Republic, in his address to Parliament of 28 May 2020, indicated that a Wages and Compensation Commission, which would address equity in pay and compensation in the public sector, was being established and that a draft bill had been submitted to Cabinet for approval. The Committee also notes the information contained in the inception report on the establishment of a Wages and Compensation Commission, available on the website of the Public Sector Reform Unit. The Committee requests the Government to provide information on the progress made in the establishment of the Wages and Compensation Commission, and the adoption of the bill on wages and compensation. It reiterates its request for information on any job evaluation exercise carried out and the establishment of a new pay structure. The Committee asks the Government to indicate how it is ensured that job evaluation exercises are free from gender bias and that skills typically identified with women are not overlooked or undervalued.

Statistics. The Committee welcomes the Government’s indication, in its report dated April 2019 on the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action (Beijing+25 report), that over the next five years, the main priorities for strengthening statistical gender statistics include the establishment of an inter-agency coordination mechanism on gender statistics (e.g., technical working group, inter-agency committee); the re-processing of existing data to produce more disaggregated and/or new gender statistics; and capacity building of users to increase the use of gender statistics. The Committee requests the Government to provide statistical information, disaggregated by gender, on the labour market and the remuneration of workers, with a view to evaluating the gender pay gap.