Workers on extended “floating status” could still look for a new job without losing their current employment, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
Labor Undersecretary Benjo M. Benavidez issued the clarification amid concerns raised by labor groups how unpaid floated workers will make ends meet until they are rehired by their companies.
“They can have alternative employment without losing their employment with their present employer,” Benavidez said in a Viber message.
The labor official was referring to the provision of Department Order (DO) 215, Series of 2020, which was signed by Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III last week.
The new issuance extended the allowable six-month period for employers to “suspend the employment,” or to “float” their workers by another six months in case of declaration of “war, pandemic and similar national emergencies.”
In consideration of the need for alternative source of income of the affected workers, DOLE stated floated workers “shall not lose employment if they find alternative employment during the extended suspension period of their status except in cases of written, unequivocal and voluntary resignation.”
DO 215, which will take effect 15 days after publication, also required companies to give priority to retrenched employees in rehiring.
A safeguard implemented by DOLE to prevent companies from abusing the extension was the requirement for employers to discuss with their workers on who will be affected before the extended floating status could be implemented.
Likewise, it should also be reported to DOLE’s regional offices 10 days prior to its effectivity.
Labor groups rejected the new policy for allegedly being illegal and anti-labor.
“D.O. 215 allows employers to minimize, if not, totally circumvent the payment of separation pay commensurate to the length of service employees have rendered. This measure blatantly eschews any recognition of the worsening conditions of Filipino workers under the pandemic,” Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) President Luke Espiritu said in a news statement.
On Tuesday, labor coalition Nagkaisa said it is now eyeing to question the legality of the DO 215 before the Supreme Court.
For his part, Benavidez belied that the new issuance is anti-labor since it aims to preserve the employment of workers amid the Covid-19 pandemic when many firms are inclined to implement mass lay-offs.
“We don’t want to see employees lose their employment, lest, they permanently lose if they are dismissed on the sole ground that the six month floating status has already lapsed,” Benavidez said.
As to the plan of labor groups to raise the issue in the High Court, he said they welcome it since “it will enrich jurisprudence.”