Several labor groups urged senators on Wednesday to expand the coverage of the proposed ‘wage theft’ bill, saying the measure should not only punish employers who fail to pay correct wages and benefits but also those engaging in less visible yet equally exploitative practices.
Under Senate Bill No. 208, wage theft covers any act of denying workers the wages, earnings, or benefits that the law guarantees them.
During the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment, and Human Resources Development hearing, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) Vice President Louie Corral said that the bill must capture other forms of wage deprivation often overlooked in existing labor policies.
Corral cited as an example the widespread ‘cheap labor policy’ that encourages employers to hire workers from provinces but pay them far below the prevailing rates in the cities where they actually work.
He pointed to the fishing industry, where fishers are recruited from Zamboanga yet deployed to Navotas, only to be paid based on their point of hire instead of where they perform their labor.
‘The cheap labor policy.workers are already being paid pennies, and yet they’re still being robbed,’ Corral said.
Federation of Free Workers (FFW) Vice President Julius Cainglet echoed the concern, noting that wage theft can also occur in subtler forms-such as the nonpayment of 13th-month pay for current employees and the pro-rated portion for those who have resigned, the failure to correct wage distortions after pay hikes, and the unlawful deduction of costs for personal protective equipment or company-prescribed uniforms.
He said these practices, though common, are rarely penalized and should be recognized as wage theft under the proposed measure.
Cainglet added that some employers even force workers to shoulder company losses arising from production errors or equipment damage that are not their fault.
‘It’s not their fault. It’s just normal wear and tear of the machines, but because some products were damaged, they are made to pay for it,’ Cainglet said.
Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) National Chairperson Domingo Mole, meanwhile, warned that the measure’s proposed suspension of noncompliant firms could end up hurting workers instead.
‘While the bill is good, but definitely we disagree with the cancellation or temporary suspension of the operation because at the end of the day, our employees will be affected because they will lose their livelihood,’ Mole said.
First filed in the 19th Congress, Senate Bill No. 208 authored by Senator Raffy Tulfo seeks to classify the nonpayment or withholding of wages and benefits as a criminal offense under Article 309 of the Revised Penal Code.
The measure also allows the suspension or cancellation of business permits for employers found guilty of wage theft-three to six months for the first offense, six months to one year for the second, and permanent revocation on the third.