NATION | DOLE to issue DO 30 against contractualization

The Labor department's proposed DO 30 will replace a department order that allows subcontracting. 

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MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Labor and Employment will release Department Order 30, a new set of guidelines on contractual labor, this month.

 

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III announced in a press conference early Wednesday that the order is expected to be out on December 28 after President Rodrigo Duterte reviews it.

 

"Before we will come out with it, I will give him a copy of our proposed department order para kung meron man siyang ayaw, puwede namin baguhin," Bello said.

 

Bello said DO 30 is mainly meant to address 'endo' or 'end of contract', where workers have contracts that end just before the six-month mark, when they are supposed to become regular employees and are entitled to work benefits.

 

Labor Undersecretary Dominador Say said the new DO, which will replace DO 18-A, will remove subcontracting, where a contractor farms out part of a job to a smaller company with a separate set of workers. 

 

This will remove 'illegitimate' contractors from the equation.

 

The proposed DO will require contractors to post a bond — 50 percent of the minimum wage for its workers — for in case the contractor encounters sudden problems, like the inability to collect from clients.

 

"Kung halimbawa hindi siya mababayaran ng principal niya, the contractor can pay on his own account ang kanyang mga empleyado ng hindi siya mag-aantay ng koleksyon," Say added.

 

The DO will also be responsible for finding employees new jobs when service contracts end.

 

"Within three months, pag hindi niya nabigyan ng alternate job, he will have to separate the employee. Babayaran niya ng separation pay," Say said.

 

DOLE Undersecretary Joel Maglungsod added that the main purpose of the new DO is to end all kinds of contractualization.

 

"Yung jurisdiction kasi ng Department of Labor and Employment ay confined doon sa guidelines based sa (Republic Act) 10619. Kung lalagpas pa siya doon, wala na siyang awtoridad," Maglungsod said.

 

He also promised a faster process for regularization complaints.

 

"The employees have the choice kung pupunta sila sa NLRC (National Labor Relations Commission) or the regional director will declare him as a regular [employee]," Say said.

 

He also added that the regional director will have the authority to decide on regularization.

 

"Isang step na lang. Napaikli na natin ang proseso," Say said.