DOLE to mandate workers’ quarantine period pay
THE Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will issue a labor policy this week mandating employers and business owners to pay the duration of isolation and quarantine period of their employees found positive with COVID-19, said the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP).
TUCP president and TUCP Party-list Rep. Raymond Mendoza said Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III will issue a labor policy mandating a paid isolation and quarantine period for workers inflicted with the disease.
Mendoza said Bello and Undersecretary Benjo Benavidez made the commitment during a 4 p. m. Zoom dialogue meeting Tuesday, that the DOLE will issue the policy as soon as possible in the light of the recent exponential surge of number of workers across all industries were exposed to the virus and needs to undergo isolation and quarantine for a prescribed number of days.
The TUCP requested an emergency dialogue meeting with Bello Tuesday to issue a policy amid the concerns of organized and unorganized workers across all industries.
Under this paid isolation and quarantine leave benefit, all employees who have to undergo isolation and quarantine for several days and not yet confined to a hospital but have exhausted all his/her company-offered leave benefits will continue to receive their wages from their employer.
Under the recent employees compensation benefits program of the Employees Compensation Commission ( ECC), only employees who are paying members of the Social Security System who contracted COVID-19, in the course of their performing their job, will be compensated throughout the duration of their hospital confinement including the cost of medicine, doctor’s fee and rehabilitation.
