6
admit “the so-called additional claims of a group of workers which raised the
amount of money claims to unattainable levels and that are inconsistent with
labor laws in force.” The State asserted that “the amounts and totals resulting
from this last calculation fully comply with all the obligations established in
the Judgment of February 2, 2001.”
10.
That the representatives of the CEJIL commented that:
i) regarding the information requested by the Court, the State furnished very
limited and general information. While the State report submitted at the
hearing summarized certain criteria used to calculate the amount of
approximately 21 million balboas and detailed the amounts owed to each
victim according to its calculations, it failed to furnish supporting documents
of said totals. Moreover, they pointed out that “regarding the revision of the
first payment and the subsequent calculations, including the proposal made at
the hearing, it is evident that the State […] has failed to submit criteria which
are clear, consistent with and incidental to any sum calculation based on the
parameters set out by the Court in the Judgment."
ii) regarding the benefits owed by the State, they explained that “[t]he core
of the rights prescribed by the Labor Code to which all victims are entitled are
unpaid salaries, payment in lieu of vacation, surcharge interest of Article 169,
default interest of Article 170, and thirteenth month.” However, the State
proposal only provides for unpaid salaries, surcharge interest of Article 169
and default interest of Article 170 of the Labor Code, in disregard of vacation
and thirteenth month benefits and the rights prescribed in Law 8, including,
but not limited to, assessment right, right to allowances and right to union
privileges for workers acting as union leaders.
iii)
The term for calculating unpaid salaries, under domestic law, should
run “from dismissal date to reinstatement date or until the pertinent
judgment is executed when indemnification payment for unfair dismissal has
been ordered," and if the State has not made any refunds or similar
payments, the term to estimate unpaid salaries is not interrupted. They also
asserted that in the report the State failed to inform the monthly salary of
each worker on which it based the calculation, rendering accuracy verification
by the victims impossible. Finally, they stated that “[t]he 10% default interest
should be applied to unpaid salaries and further ‘labor rights’ under the laws
in force at the date the events took place” so, as the amounts estimated by
the State fail to include these items, they do not comply with domestic laws;
they also noted that in the report the State failed to submit an updated list of
the deceased victims and the payments made and amounts owed to their
successors.
11.
That the group of victims represented by the Organización de los
Trabajadores Víctimas de la Ley 25, in turn, asserted that the State of Panama has
followed a procedure which is completely foreign to domestic laws, in violation of its
own rules, and that up to date it has not filed a detailed report on the calculations.