A network of business process outsourcing (BPO) employees has filed a formal complaint against 30 call center firms based in Cebu province for violating labor and occupational safety laws during the 6.9-magnitude earthquake on Sept. 30.
BPO Industry Employees Network (BIEN) – Cebu lodged the complaint with the Department of Labor and Employment – Region 7 (DOLE – RO7) on Thursday.
‘BIEN-Cebu rejects this ‘business-as-usual’ approach of BPO companies and government neglect during this time of crisis. We call on all BPO workers to unite and fight back against this blatant disregard of workers’ rights,’ the group’s spokesperson John Kyle Enero said in a statement.
According to the group, they had received more than a hundred reports of agents being forced to report to work, despite their pleas to focus on their safety and their families in just two days.
Among these were agents who were allegedly forced back onto the production floor, and emergency exits were blocked in one company.
Another reported that they were offered double pay to continue working after the earthquake, disregarding safety concerns.
In another company, employees were ordered to resume work immediately after the quake, with some returning as early as 30 minutes post-event, without any safety memorandum or clearance.
The group received multiple incidents of employees insisting on not reporting to work were met with notices to explain, administrative sanctions, loss of attendance incentives and benefits, among many retaliatory actions.
There were also reports of verbal threats, and concerns were downplayed, treating the crisis as ‘business as usual.’
Employees who went home after the Sept. 30 earthquake were marked as unpaid, lost attendance bonuses, and were suspended from work. Workers who did not return the following day were marked as unauthorized absences.
Some employees were even forced to sign memos prohibiting them from speaking about the situation on social media.
The group urged DOLE to investigate the allegations and hold negligent employers accountable under Republic Act No. 11058, or the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Standards law, and related labor issuances.
When sought for comment, Labor and Employment Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma told the Inquirer that the agency is already investigating the case.
He said that the filing of complaint ‘is very welcome to enable the DOLE to establish the guilt and liability of employers being complained of.’
He added that, without preempting the outcome of the investigation, employers must not force their workers to report to work if the latter feel that their workplace is unsafe.
‘The company cannot just impose disciplinary action if the refusal or non- reporting is based on justifiable ground, i.e fear for their safety or health concerns,’ Laguesma said in a Viber message.
BIEN-Cebu also criticized the government for not declaring imminent danger in workplaces in the province, and instead passed the decision of how to handle the emergency situation to private companies.
‘This decision not only affects BPO workers at large, but the thousands of families and loved ones,’ Enero said.
‘If the government can suspend classes due to the need to inspect school buildings, they should also rightfully require BPO companies and their building administrators to provide a detailed inspection and safety report to ensure that resumption of work does not threaten worker safety,’ he added.
Meanwhile, Cebu City Vice Mayor Tommy Osmeña also urged employees who experienced the same workplace abuse to submit a report to him, by texting him at 09173299999 and providing all the details of the incident.
He assured complainants they should not fear retribution from their employers, as he would be the only one to read their text messages.
‘I need to be sure that this is true, but if this is true, we will do more than just file a complaint at DOLE,’ he said in his official Facebook account.
‘I will personally contact every known local and overseas client that the company has to tell them what kind of company they hired. We will hit them where it hurts,’ he added.