MANILA, Philippines — Senator Joel Villanueva on Wednesday urged the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to improve its monitoring of work-from-home arrangements between companies and their employees to ensure that the labor rights of workers are being protected amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
“My call is for the DOLE to improve their mechanism monitoring para masiguro na protected ang ating workers sa work from home (to ensure that workers who work from home are being protected),” Villanueva told the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum.
Villanueva made the call to the labor department after hearing complaints from private school teachers that their workload and salaries were slashed under the work-from-home scheme. He said this move by some private schools is wrong.
He said that under Republic Act No. 11165 or the Telecommunicating Act, employers cannot make a unilateral decision on guidelines for the work-from-home setup and that DOLE has also issued a similar memorandum circular on the matter.
“If the company would go [for] some transferee, reduction of normal workdays, job rotation, kailangan po nila magreport sa DOLE. Kailangan din po nilang iconsult ang kanilang mga empleyado kung okay ba sila na magtransfer, na mag-adjust, even the wage benefits,” the senator said.
(If the company would go for some transferee, reduction of normal days, job rotation, they have to report to DOLE. They should also consult their employees if they agree to be transferred, to adjust, and on the wage benefits.)
“Hindi posible ‘yan na ‘Hindi, babawasan ko na lang ang sweldo mo.’ Hindi po ganun kasimple ‘yan, dapat po nagkakaroon ng pag-uusap,” he added.
(Employers should not say they will just slash the salary of their workers. It’s not that simple. There should be a discussion.)
If there are conflicting views between the employers and employees, then a grievance mechanism should be observed, according to Villanueva. If the company has no such mechanism, they can also go to regional offices of DOLE to discuss the issue.
Villanueva also stressed that it is important for workers to know that they also have labor rights under the work-from-home arrangement.
“Sa mga workers, under this scheme, please be reminded, there is no diminution dapat, hindi bumababa ‘yung salaries ninyo, ‘yung benefits ninyo naandyan pa rin. May overtime [pay] din po ‘yan at dapat napoprotektahan din po ang inyong mga karapatan,” he said.
(To workers, please be reminded that under this scheme, there should be no diminution, your salaries should not be decreased, and your benefits should remain. There should also be overtime pay and your rights should be protected.)
“Panawagan din po ito sa mga employers, even managers na tingnan natin ‘yung boundaries ng working hours kasi hindi naman po tama na sobra sobra naman ang pagbibigay ng working hours sa ating mga employees,” he said, adding that employers will also want workers to efficiently and effectively perform their jobs from home.
(This is also a call to employers and managers to look at the boundaries of working hours because it is not right to make your employees work for extensive hours.)
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