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How to use this database?
1. How to use this database
1.1. Browsing
You may either browse the database by country or by category (left margin).
"Browse by category"
This allows you to compare information across topics and countries/regions. To conduct a search, select a database (maternity protection, minimum wages, working time) and determine the topics you would like to compare (or choose all topics to see a wider range of data; for more information on the topics, see No. 2 below). After clicking on "Next: select country/countries", you may select one or more countries/regions you would like to compare. Only countries for which the respective database contains data are displayed. Please note that countries on which the database contains data, but not on the selected category/categories, cannot be ticked. By clicking on "Show results", the system generates a HTML web page with the requested information. 5 countries per page are displayed. To change the search, the search options are located at the top of the page, allowing you to add single topics/countries to your selection.
"Browse by country"
"Browse by country" provides you with the opportunity to generate a country profile for either maternity protection, minimum wages or working time provisions. Clicking on the date of the relevant country and database will take you to that country report. Clicking on "browse by country" will also provide you with an overview over the countries covered by each database. Shaded dates in the Maternity Protection database signalise that for these countries only some information, limited to maternity leave duration, level of cash benefits, and source of payment, has been included (partly relying on secondary sources; see also under 2.3 below).
1.2. Search
The free search mechanism is based on basic boolean search operators:
- exceptional , will find all entries with the word exceptional
- exceptional overtime , will find all entries with the words exceptional AND overtime, but not necessarily together
- exceptional AND overtime , will find all entries with the words exceptional AND overtime, but not necessarily together
- exceptional OR overtime , will find all entries with the word exceptional OR the word overtime
- exceptional overtime NOT domestic , will find all entries with the words exceptional AND the word overtime but NOT the word domestic
- "overtime work" , will find all cases with the expression "overtime work", i.e. the two words are together
1.3. "Legal indicators for decent work"
The buttons in the left margin under "Legal indicators for decent work" present shortcuts to all the information contained in the database on rights at work and the legal framework for decent work in the area of working time, maternity protection and minimum wages.They form part of the indicators developed for the measurement of decent work.
The relevant indicators are
- for maternity protection: maternity leave (including weeks of leave, replacement rate and coverage), paternity and parental leave
- for working time: maximum hours of work and paid annual leave
- for minimum wages: minimum wage setting procedure and level (please note that while the decent work indicators in this regard refer to the statutory minimum wage, the database also provides for minimum wages as included in collective agreements, see no. 2.2 below).
By selecting the respective categories and a country/countries yourself, you can of course retrieve the same information under "browse by category".
1.4. Results
General
In order to allow for a quick display of results, 10 countries per page are displayed. Please click on NEXT to see the subsequent results. If there are less information displayed than expected, this may have several reasons (see below No. 3: "About empty data fields"). The database cites references for all legislative provisions, further detailed in "Legal sources" within each database (see also under No. 3 "Citations" below). The date of the most recent update is indicated for each country in the results. A little balloon with an (i) indicates that by clicking on it, additional information can be retrieved.
Historical comparison
One interesting feature is the possibility to view the development of specific topics for selected countries over time.
This is at present possible for "Materniy leave - general total duration" and "Maternity leave benefits - amount" and "financing of benefits", for 1994, 1998 and 2004. On working time issues, this is possible for "General weekly hours limit", "General limits for overtime work", "Overtime rate(s)", "Rest breaks, general provisions", "Daily rest periods, Duration", "Weekly rest periods, General, Duration", "Annual leave, Duration, General" of 1995. The information on working time is taken from the "Working time around the world (1995), Conditions of Work Digest, Vol. 14", available under http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/condtrav/publ/wtwo-cwe-95.htm.
For historical comparative data on minimum wage levels, you may concult TRAVAIL's Global Wage Database 2009, available under http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/condtrav/pdf/wagedatabase09.xls.
The historical data can be retrieved by browsing the respective categories for a country/countries. They are displayed within these categories, indicating the different years.
Excel download
The data are not displayed for each country in different columns, since this is not "demonstrative" for text-based databases. Instead, the possibility to export the data to an excel spreadsheet by clicking on "excel download" is provided. This provides for more advanced comparisons, table designs and print outs. It will take a while for the data to be exported, depending on the amount of data (categories, countries) selected.
All cells with information will have a comment attached to them that clearly indicates where the information is from: The year, the country, the main- and sub-category and the specific topic category. Once you open the information in Excel, you can then sort or filter the information as suits your needs.
Additionally, you have the possibility to mark the search result with your cursor and copy/paste it into a word-document.
Print
You can view the information in a printable format by clicking the "view printable page" button. When you click this button, the browser page will refresh, displaying a page without the extraneous navigation. If you choose to print the page, for best results, go to the "File menu", select "Page setup" and change the orientation to "Landscape," click "OK." For more legible print-outs, you may want to use the "Print Preview" option to adjust the number of pages, zoom and font size amongst other options.
2. The content
2.1. Working Time
The working time database is a searchable database providing information on the working time laws of more than 100 countries around the world. It covers laws that protect the health and well-being of workers; facilitate a balance between work and family life; ensure workers have adequate time to devote to their other responsibilities and interests; and prevent discrimination against part-time workers.
The database provides summaries of the primary working time laws in each country including:
- Hour limits: the number of hours a worker is permitted to perform each day, week or year.
- Overtime work: including limits on overtime hours, the amount of advance notice required, and the additional pay or time-off for overtime work.
- Rest periods: the amount of rest to which workers are entitled during the day, between working days and at weekends.
- Annual leave and public holidays: the number of holiday days and the entitlement to payment during these periods.
- Night work: prohibitions on performing night work and protection for night workers, including health assessments and the right to transfer to day work; extra pay or time-off for night workers; and protection for specific groups, such as pregnant workers.
- Part-time work: rights for part-time workers to equal treatment with full-timers.
The database does not cover all possible categories of workers, but focusses on the working time provisions as provided by the general labour laws.
Specific provisions that may exist for specific categories of workers/sectors such as dockworkers, transport workers, public servants and shop-workers, are not included, with the exception of agricultural and domestic workers.
Characteristics of selected working time models are:
- Flexitime: Allows workers to schedule their own hours of work within specific limits; during core periods workers must be present.
- Shift work: Workers succeed one another at the workplace so that operation hours exceed the hours of work of individual workers. The length of shifts can vary considerably, the most common being eight-hour shifts. There are also short or part-time shifts, and long shifts, which may involve up to 12 hours of work a day. Fixed and rotating shifts are possible.
- Compressed work-weeks: Normal weekly hours of work are scheduled over fewer days. To cover extra days of work, rotation schedules might be adapted or part-time workers hired. weekly working time. Provisions on compressed workweeks, if applicable, are to be found under "weekly hours limit".
- Overtime: All hours worked in excess of normal hours of work, unless taken into account in fixing remuneration.
- Part-time work: Work of less than a normal full-time schedule.
- On-ca
ll work: Work on an as-needed basis. Arrangements vary, e.g. referring to an employee's status during a particular shift
or period of work where the employee does not have to report to work, but must be available if needed. An on-call employee may work during periods of heavy workload and, during others, be on a non-pay status. The employee may thus be subject to periodic release and recall. - Short-time work/work sharing: Work sharing is a reduction of working time intended to spread a reduced volume of work over the same or a similar number of workers in order to avoid layoffs or, alternatively, as a measure intended to create new employment. Under this category, also legal provisions providing for extraordinary reduction to zero hours of workers due to economic difficulties of an enterprise have been included, if provided by legislation.
2.2. Minimum Wages
The minimum wages database provides information on minimum wage legislation in about 100 ILO member States. Minimum wages may be defined as the lowest level of remuneration permitted which in each country has the force of law and which is enforceable under threat of penal or other appropriate sanctions. This includes minimum wages set through collective agreements for which the law at least establishes that such agreements are binding on the parties thereto, either at enterprise, branch or national level. (see ILO: Minimum wages: Wage-fixing machinery, application and supervision, Report III (Part 4B) (General Survey), International Labour Conference, 79th Session, Geneva, 1992). The information is divided into 6 main areas:
The procedure
The section begins with a summary of how minimum wages are set: this may be done by the government alone; collective bargaining; consultation of the social partner; discussions with bi/tripartite committees or directly through tripartite negotiations. Also, the type of minimum wage the country has implemented is briefly summarized. There may be one rate that can be paid to any worker regardless of the type of work carried out, applying nationwide, or rates varying regionally, by sector and/or by occupation. No two countries are exactly the same and in some cases a reasonably long explanation of the system is provided here.
Criteria
Each time a country's legislation stipulates that any of the following criteria must be taken into consideration, a note has been made: Social factors including: needs of workers and their families; cost of living; level of wages and incomes in the country; social security benefits. Economic factors including: economic development; productivity; level of employment; capacity of employers to pay; inflation rate. In addition, any other criteria referred to is included within the final category "other provisions".
Coverage
This section explains which categories of workers are entitled to receive a wage at least equal to the minimum wage. The "scope" includes a brief summary of the workers the minimum wage legislation applies to and those (worker, sectors or occupations) that are excluded (Yes/No - If Yes, an explanation of the regions covered has been provided). Additionally, specific minimum wage rates by occupation, by sector, by region or for specific categories of worker (e.g. trainees, youth and the disabled, who are often subject to lower minimum wage rates) are mentioned if applicable, without specifying the exact level of the minimum wage.
Level
The level of the minimum wage is provided in national currency. In countries where there is more than one minimum wage rate (e.g. varying by occupation/sector/region, age, qualification level etc.), the monthly minimum wage rate for unskilled adult workers in the manufacturing industry in the capital region and the region with the lowest minimum wage are provided. With regard to minimum wages (mainly) set by collective agreements (e.g. Norway, Austria), it was tried to include the collective agreement that covers the highest amount of workers in the manufacturing sector. However, the comparative value of these data in relation to e.g. statutory minimum wages is very limited. For Switzerland and Germany, no collective agreement could be identified which was to be considered as representative for the manufacturing sector.
To facilitate the comparison between countries, for each country also the minimum wage rate in force 31 December of the year preceding the update is provided, even if it had changed in the meantime before the update. Additionally, information on whether wages may be paid in kind is provided, and in particular whether an allowance provided in-kind can result in a worker receiving less than the relevant minimum wage rate. Finally, the section includes information whether the wage should be calculated on an hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or other basis.
Frequency of adjustment of minimum wage rates.
Many countries stipulate how frequently minimum wage rates should be adjusted. This is included here, along with a note of those countries that do not appear to have any legal provisions establishing how frequently minimum wage rates must be adjusted.
Control mechanisms
This section sets forth the bodies, such as labour inspectorates, that ensure compliance with minimum wage legislation. It also provides the amount of any fines that may be applied in the event of non-compliance, along with any other penalties that may be levied such as imprisonment.
2.3. Maternity Protection
The maternity protection database contains information on the principal legislative measures adopted in member States to protect the health and welfare of working women during pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding and to ensure that their employment is protected and that they are not subject to discrimination. For each country, the statutory entitlements are divided into four major areas of protection, covering the main provisions of the Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No.183):
- Provisions on maternity leave and other related types of leave, including paternity, adoption and parental leave indicating which workers are covered, the conditions for eligibility, the duration of such leave periods as well as the possibility to take this leave as part-time leave;
- The cash benefits available during the various types of leave and the source of funding;
- Health protection measures such as arrangements of working time, avoidance of dangerous or unhealthy work, and provisions for breastfeeding; and
- Provisions aimed at protecting women against discrimination on grounds of maternity and providing employment security.
Information is included for 164 countries throughout the world, divided into two groups: For around 100 countries, original legislative texts were consulted and broader research was completed, while for some 60 countries (designated in the list of countries by a yellow background) a more complete research has not yet been undertaken, but for which some information, limited to maternity leave duration, level of cash benefits, and source of payment, has been included, provided mainly by reliable secondary sources.
The legislation used for the Maternity Protection Database applies to the private sector. Separate legislation for the public sector is not included, nor are collective agreements, given their limited coverage. In systems where there may be no single national standard, such as federal states, the most general provision applicable is used.
3. Methodology and sources
Compiling legislation
The main legislative sources used for the database are national laws (which include different kinds of legislative provisions such as acts, decrees and regulations). Information for the Database was gathered through different methods. Researchers first reviewed existing laws that have been submitted to the ILO by member States (e.g. by using NATLEX). Partly, special requests for information about the national legislation were sent by researchers to Ministries of Labour to seek information on any recent legislative changes. Not least, researchers searched the Internet to find current legislation for member countries. In several cases, laws were available on national websites (ranging from official government websites to those of academic institutions and others). There were considerable challenges in gathering the information which are inherent to desk reviews, ranging from unavailable translations of legal texts to intransparent regulatory processes in some countries. In some few cases, the Governments ver
ified the information, which was mentioned in each case.
Other sources cited are used only very exceptionally, when legislative texts were not found. The information contained in the "other sources used" were taken, in most cases, from the websites of Ministries of Employment, Labour, Health and Family of member States and from the Social security offices, funds or boards. In other cases, information came from other Government documents submitted to the ILO, or from other databases such as "Social Security Programmes throughout the World" available at the official website of the US Social Security Administration (http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/ssptw/) or the Natlex database maintained by the ILO (http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/natlex_browse.home).
Citations
The database cites references for all legislative provisions. Bibliographic references and .url/pdf-links are provided as available. If there had been several amendments, only the original text and the last amendment is mentioned. Each time a legislative provision is used in a specific category in the database, the relevant article or paragraph is cited. References to legal provisions were mostly standardized as "§", regardless of the term used in the legal text (e.g. "Article"). In some cases, the legislative texts in the ILO came directly from the governments and exact bibliographic references were not provided.
Language
Some legislative texts were available in one of the ILO's official languages (usually English), even when this was not the official language of the member State. In some cases these were official translations by the member State; in others, translations were unofficial versions, translated by the ILO, national Governments or other national organizations. Other legislative texts were used in their original language, entered directly into the database when the original language was English, or translated directly by researchers with fluency in the member State's official language. In many cases, if the text of a legislative provision is in a language other than English, the name of the act provided in English is a translation by the researcher, followed by the name of the act, if possible, in the original language.
About Empty Data Fields and Blank Search Results
For most countries in the database, information for some or numerous categories is missing.
Every effort has been made to provide complete and standardized information across all topics and countries. However, there are several possible reasons for missing information and searches that yield no result:
- Legislative provisions concerning a particular issue may not exist in that particular country;
- Legislation regulating the issue was not available at the ILO and could not be found through other methods by the researchers;
- Relevant information was available, but in a language outside the knowledge of the researchers
Other limitations
In general, it should be noted that the information included in the database is based on the data that was available to or found by the researchers. In some cases this may not be the most recent legislation if the member State has not forwarded current legislation to the ILO. Additionally, if an unofficial translation has been used, there may be errors due to misunderstandings, or problems of interpretation. Given these limitations we cannot guarantee the correctness or completeness of the information presented. It should be used for information purposes only, and not taken as legal advice.
Also, the database presents the formal legal standards, at least to the extent that is is reflected in the legislation. What it does not do, however, is indicate the role of the legislation in each of the regimes under consideration. Given that it focuses only on the legislated standards, for many countries, especially in western Europe, it does not capture the substantial regulatory role played by collective agreements. Neither does it indicate the extent to which the legislative standards are being enforced and applied, or their influence on the informal economy. It can, however, form a basis from which the question of the role of legal standards can be further explored.
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