ILOILO City – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Western Visayas has yet to receive reports of private employers denying workers unvaccinated against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) their compensation.
According to Director Sixto Rodriquez Jr.,the DOLE regional office and its provincial counterparts are open to hearing complaints on the supposed scheme.
“They can directly contact me if possible,” the director added.
In Metro Manila, some employees were denied their salaries because they were unvaccinated against COVID-19, said the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP).
TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said 12 food service workers complained they were not paid under a “no vaccine, no salary” scheme.
‘DON’T DISCRIMINATE’
Rodriguez reiterated DOLE’s guidelines on the administration of COVID-19 jabs in workplaces.
“Covered establishments and employers shall endeavor to encourage their employees to get vaccinated. However, employees who refuse or fail to be vaccinated shall not be discriminated against in terms of tenure, promotion, training pay, and other benefits, among others, or terminated from employment. ‘No vaccine, no work’ policy shall not be allowed,” DOLE stressed.
According to Rodriguez, if there is no law mandating “no vaccination, no work” or “no jab, no pay” policies, “employers are not allowed to discriminate their employees for no vaccination.”
Particularly, DOLE’s issuance covers those with “employee-employer relationship.”
However, according to Rodriguez, in the absence of such a relationship, “then that’s the management’s prerogative of which DOLE – or other government agencies – cannot intervene with.”
“They are the owners of the establishment. They have right to protect their employees,” he added.
“Pero kon mayroong employer-employee relationship at mayroong ganyang policy and the employees were not properly informed, they should be penalized,” Rodriguez said.
DOLE, meanwhile, encourages workers to get vaccinated – as anchored in its mandate of promoting a healthy working environment for employees.
But should an employee opt not to get vaccinated, “we encourage the employers not to discriminate,” said Rodriguez.
‘ILLEGAL’
Ilonggo senator and former Labor secretary Franklin Drilon slammed the policy.
“If work has been rendered, it is illegal to withhold salary regardless of the vaccination status of the worker,” he said.
For Drilon, a vaccination card is “not a daily time record” to prove that work has been rendered.
“Once a work or service is rendered, a company has an obligation under the law to pay the employee,” Drilon said.
Section 12 of Republic Act 11525 (The COVID-19 Vaccination Program) stated that “vaccine cards shall not be considered an additional mandatory requirement for educational, employment, and other similar government transactions processes.”
“If indeed there are companies that engage in the so-called ‘no vaccine, no pay’ scheme, DOLE should remind them that they are violating RA 11525,” Drilon said.
Drilon joined TUCP in calling on DOLE to ensure that the rights of workers are not violated.
“I call on the DOLE to look into this. While we do encourage all workers to get vaccinated, we must do it in a lawful manner. To withhold the salary of unvaccinated employees is outright illegal and inhuman,” Drilon said.
“What companies should do is provide incentives and perks to the vaccinated to encourage other employees to line up and get inoculated. They should never discriminate those who are not yet vaccinated,” he added./PN
