TO ensure workers get their salaries safely and promptly amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) urged employers to explore cashless payment of wages.
In Labor Advisory 26-20, Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said employers should consider paying their workers using electronic money (e-money), which could conveniently stored in payment instruments, such as cash cards, or e-wallets, and could be accessed through mobile phones.
“The list of e-money issuers [EMI] or entities authorized by BSP [Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas] to offer e-money account can be found on the BSP web site,” Bello said.
The labor chief said they could also opt to make use of BSP’s Philippine EFT System and Operations Network (PESONet) to digitally transfer from one bank to another.
“Designed for bulk disbursements and payments, PESONet is useful for payment of wages from employer’s transaction accounts to the accounts of employees in PESONet participating FIs [financial institutions],” Bello said in the three-paged issuance.
He said this will “reduce the costs and risks of physical cash disbursements,” especially during the Covid-19 crisis, wherein face-to-face transactions could raise chances of infections.
For companies, which will still opt for physical cash payments, Bello said, they could make use of an unconventional financial service access points such as pawnshops, cooperatives, convenience stores, pharmacies and other retail outlets aside from the usual automated teller machines (ATM).
DOLE said companies, which are interested in making use of these options should first communicate it to their respective workers.
It noted such use of alternative means of wage payments should not result to additional expenses for the part of the workers.
The new payment scheme should also still comply with wage protection provisions of the law and reflected in the payslip, or record of payment of wages of their employees.