Alvarez files bill to ensure minimum wage earners get pay and benefits

February 13, 2017

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez has filed a bill to ensure minimum wage earners get pay and  benefits they deserve.

In a statement Monday, Alvarez said he filed the bill to curb illegal practice of private sector employers of not paying wages and benefits.

“Failure to pay the required minimum wage entails serious penalties. However, the current penalties are not strong enough to completely stop these unjust and unreasonable conditions suffered by labor workers,” Alvarez said.

The bill requires the payment of wages and wage related benefits of an employee through the automated teller machines of banks.

The bill amends Presidential Decree No. 442 and provides for a new article requiring employees to shoulder all premium payments or contributions of minimum wage earners in Social Security System (SSS), the Philippine Health Insurance Corp (Philhealth), the Home Development Mutual Fund (PAGIBIG) and other social security and welfare benefit programs.

To ensure compliance, the bill penalizes non-payment of wages of workers in the private sectors by a fine of P200,000 to P500,000  or imprisonment of not less than four years but not more than six years, or both.

An employer found guilty of violating the law shall be ordered to pay double the amount of unpaid wages it owed the employee concerned.  But payment of indemnity will not absolve the employer from criminal liability.

In cases where the worker was hired through a subcontractor, non-payment of wage as well as wage-related benefits would make the principal and the subcontractor liable for violation of the law.

The bill requires the Secretary of Labor and Employment to promulgate the necessary implementing rules and regulations within 120 days from the effectivity of the law. DMS