ILOILO CITY -- The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is reminding private sector workers, who opt to work at home or any alternative workplace using telecommunication and/or computer technologies, to be aware of their benefits and privileges as provided for in the law.
Niezel Anen T. Sabrido, labor relations focal person of DOLE 6 (Western Visayas), noted that the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Telecommuting Act (Work from Home Law) has been released just recently.
“Anybody can avail of the Telecommuting Act because what will govern in this particular case is the voluntary agreement between the worker and the employer and at the same time if there is a CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) that provides for the recommending act,” Sabrido said in an interview Thursday.
She said it is stipulated in the agreement that “it should be pursuant to established Labor Standards.”
Work-from-home employees also have to be treated “fairly equal” just like their counterparts working in the premises of the employer.
“They should be entitled to the same kind of benefits, same kind of salaries, same kind of Labor Standards protection afforded under the law,” she pointed out.
Sabrido said most of these workers are employed in tutorial centers and the business process outsourcing (BPO) firms.
“I think this particular law was crafted for employees working at home,” she said, observing an increase in the number of home-based workers.
The first consideration, Sabrido said, should be the presence of an employer-employee relationship, adding that the law covers only those working in the private sector. (PNA)
