Private companies that refuse to submit the names of qualified employees for the COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program (CAMP) may be penalized once the community quarantine is lifted.
In a phone interview with TIMES, Eduardo Monreal, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Region XI labor communications officer, said that workers can file their complaint at their office.
The regional labor office will then request the company to explain its non-compliance. He pointed out that some companies might not have the capacity to comply with CAMP, so the evaluation would be on an individual basis.
Inspectors will then be sent to the company to determine if there is due cause to penalize them.
However, the inspection would have to be deferred after the home quarantine period since the priority right now is to process all the applications for CAMP. In this way, the qualified workers would receive their P5,000 financial aid without delay.
At present, the government has received 7,900 applications for evaluation and they have already released around P9.9 million to 130 establishments, which should help 1,989 workers.
As of April 2, another batch was approved and DOLE is preparing the P38-million payroll for 7,770 workers of 498 establishments.
But he assured that the agency will be holding erring companies accountable once the outbreak is over. So far, they only received five complaints and these have forwarded to the sub-offices for assessment and action.
In a previous statement, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said they received reports about the refusal of some establishments to submit the names of the affected workers.
“I, therefore, appeal again to companies that, for the sake of your employees and workers, submit your reports so that we may be able to extend them their most needed assistance,” he said.
The labor department has monitored 630,000 workers who were displaced by the health and security measures implemented by the government and private sector. More than 15,000 establishments have either temporarily closed shops or resorted to work-from-home arrangements.
