SECURITY agencies are the most common violators of the country's labor standard, said an official of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Sunday.
In an interview, Labor Undersecretary Lourdes Trasmonte said the department finds security agencies that wanted to lure more clients resulted to their frequent failure to meet required labor standards.
“Because of their cut-throat competition, binababaan nila yung contract rate binababaan nila at nagsa-suffer naman yung kanilang payment of minimum wage, etc,” said Trasmonte.
Aside from security firms, also among the sectors often found violating the labor standards are manpower agencies, subcontractors, cooperatives, manufacturing establishments, restaurants, and fast food enterprises.
Violations include those in the core labor standards such as minimum wage, ECOLA, 13th month pay, holiday pay, service incentive leave, overtime pay, night-shift differential, SSS, Pag-ibig, and Philhealth.
And with several frequent violators on-hand, the labor department has set an intensified inspection program among all establishments around the country beginning today (Monday) with the aforementioned sectors in their priority list.
According to DOLE Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, the program is part of the department’s Project Labor Enforcement and Action Program or Project LEAP that was included in her Administrative Order No. 281 issued in accordance to the policy of the Aquino administration.
“The objective is to effect a compliance rate with labor standards of at least 70 percent,” Baldoz said.(AMN/Sunnex)