Call center owes 600 employees millions in pay

THE Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) 7 has found out that a call center that suddenly shut down its operations last July 30 owed its more than 600 employees millions of pesos in unpaid salaries, commissions and overtime pay.

Director Edmund Mirasol of the National Conciliation and Mediation Board said Dole 7 under Director Gloria Tango assumed jurisdiction over the case involving Direct Access Corp., after the mediation he conducted failed.

Mirasol said the company’s chief operations officer, Jeff Robert Newman, said that their company has little money left and the finances are being handled by their business partner in the United States.

However, the company has assets that are being eyed to pay off its obligations to the call center agents.

Mirasol said that Rogen Cumba and engineer Vic Abordo, both labor and employment specialists of Dole 7, have come up with their findings after an inspection.

Dole 7, Mirasol said, has given Direct Access five days to refute the findings and lay down their plan on how to pay the affected workers.

Prohibited

Roland del Rosario, a Filipino and one of the owners of Direct Access Corp., is included in the complaint filed by aggrieved workers.

Sylvio Dorig, the designated spokesperson of the 600 workers, said that prior to the closure of the company, Newman was rumored to have opened a separate call center with only 60 employees.

But Mirasol said Newman is prohibited from opening a call center of his own because as company officials, Newman, del Rosario and their partners in the United States are liable to pay the employees their salaries, commissions and overtime pay for July 2012.

Another Direct Access employee who requested anonymity said Newman directly dealt with the employees without divulging who his business partners abroad are.