Pia Cayetano pushes for passage of anti-age discrimination in employment bill

Senator Pia Cayetano. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Senator Pia Cayetano pressed on Friday, Labor Day, the passage of her bill that seeks to end age discrimination in employment, saying its passage would be a “fitting legacy of the 16th Congress for our workforce.”

Senate Bill No.29 or the Anti-Age Discrimination in Employment Act, which she filed, prohibits employers from publishing or posting ads indicating age preferences, requiring applicants to declare their age, and declining application or laying off employees because of age.

BACKSTORY: Age doesn’t matter, says Cayetano in anti-discrimination in work bill

Violators, under the bill, face a fine of between P50,000 and P500,000, or imprisonment ranging from three months to two years.

“The Philippine economy is widely acknowledged as one of the fastest moving in the region, and yet our workers remain stuck in backward practices and conditions,” Cayetano said in a statement.

“Passing the Anti-Age Discrimination in Employment Act would be a fitting legacy of the 16th Congress for our workforce,” she added.

Cayetano said the bill has already received the backing of the Blas F. Ople Policy Center and Training Institute, a support group for migrant workers, and the ‘Abilidad, Hindi Edad’ (‘Skills, Not Age’) Coalition composed of workers and labor groups.

Age discrimination in the workplace, she said, has unduly deprived older workers of employment opportunities “as some employers tend to favor younger applicants or set preferred age limits for jobs that can generally be performed by any qualified employee, regardless of age.”

Every year on Labor Day, job fairs organized by government agencies and private firms have become staple activities but the senator asked: “How many jobseekers above 30 years old actually get hired in these fairs?”

READ: 251,677 vacancies in 56 job fairs on Friday

“We see age discrimination openly being flaunted in job fairs and classified ads, where companies or employment agencies set specific age requirements for job seekers, such as between 20 to 30 years old. It is also in the employment policies of some industries, although sometimes discreetly,” Cayetano said.

“Our Constitution guarantees equal employment opportunities for all, and yet there is no law that prohibits age discrimination at work, not even an aggressive campaign by the labor department to seriously address this unfair practice,” she lamented.

Cayetano said age discrimination was also a common concern among overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

“Many of them are skilled and highly experienced workers who would be assets in any company or enterprise, but experience has shown them that turning 30 has been a serious obstacle to being hired locally,” she said.

“Thus, many of our OFWs are forced to stay abroad or return there, sometimes as illegal workers, or even risk their own life and safety as migrant workers in countries torn by conflict or war,” the senator added. IDL