Monday, April 30, 2007 Many firms violate wage law: legislator
A LOT of firms in the country do not comply with the minimum wage law, prompting Senator Ralph Recto to call for more inspections and less red tape for companies that are legally exempt from paying the floor wage but find the process daunting.
Recto said of the 19,939 firms visited by Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) inspectors in 2005, 15,879 or 81 percent were found to be complying with wage laws.
Of those in violations of compensation rules, "most were remedied on-the-spot, highlighting the effectiveness of labor inspections," Recto said.
Two thirds of firms found shortchanging their workers in 2004 made on the sport corrections, he pointed out.
Recto said mandatory minimum wages must be "advocated on the ground and campaigned on the field."
"What's the use of the minimum wage law if, like traffic laws, it is violated with impunity?" Recto said in stressing "the equal importance of setting the minimum wage and seeing to it that it is being followed."
The lawmaker believed that actual evasion rate could be higher, if labor officials were able to inspect small firms belonging to the so-called "underground" economy.
He said employers cannot arbitrarily deny their workers of their rightful pay even if they may be qualified for exemption under various laws.
He explained that companies that find it difficult maintaining their operations -- and pay the minimum wage -- can apply for exemption from government-issued wage orders.
"That is correct procedures as an employer is entitled to relief but it is not right for him to function as one-man government wage board," said Recto.
Minimum wages vary by region, with the highest currently at P350 a day for a non-agricultural worker in Metro Manila.
Even if there is "100 percent" compliance with wage orders, "it still won't mean that everyone is getting his or her just wage," he said.
Half of the country's employed are deemed "wage and salary workers," he said. "The other half are own-account and unpaid workers who are not covered by the minimum wage law," he said. (CPB/Sunnex)
