Ma blames employer for call center agent’s death

MANILA, Philippines – The mother of a call center agent who passed out and died while at work has filed charges against his employer for allegedly not giving her son first aid treatment.

Julita Roxas, mother of Christopher Roxas, filed the case of reckless imprudence resulting in homicide against nine officials of the call center before the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office.

The Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) assisted the mother in filing the criminal complaint.

Julita claimed the company was liable for not providing for the occupational health needs of its employees. She said an employer is obligated to provide first aid medicines and equipment in the work area.

“No one even gave him first aid treatment before he was brought to the hospital, and this caused the death of my son,” she said.

Christopher, 24, passed out at 11:20 p.m. on May 3 in the company’s offices at a mall along North EDSA but the nurse on duty was reportedly on her break at that time.

“There are CCTV cameras monitoring the whole office but not one among the officials and guards on duty helped my son so he could be brought to the hospital. They neglected him and my son did not even get first aid,” Julita said.

She also said it took at least 10 minutes before her son was brought to the East Avenue Medical Center, where he was declared dead on arrival. The cause of death, according to PAO, was cardiac arrest.

“It is clear that aside from the nurse, who was not at her post when my son lost consciousness, the company has not trained any qualified first aid staff. The nurse was not effective in her duty. The negligence of an employee is also the negligence of the employer,” Julita said. –Reinir Padua (The Philippine Star)