PHL officials hold human rights education series in NY

Amid growing concerns among Filipinos in New York about the city government’s plans to lay off teachers and other workers, Philippine officials there started a series of human rights education seminars for Filipino communities.

The Philippine Consulate General in New York partnered with the Filipino-American Legal Defense and Education Fund (FALDEF) to conduct the seminars, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Thursday.

The event — titled “Employee Rights: Do You Know Yours?” — was attended by teachers, medical assistants, computer programmers, and hotel workers, according to the DFA.

It said the seminar was conducted by FALDEF volunteer lawyers Thomas Gearon and Steven Siegel and FALDEF president JT Mallonga.

The DFA said the first of the seminars was held at the Philippine Center on May 20, under the sponsorship of the consulate general, FALDEF, and Association of Filipino Teachers of America.

Fair labor standards

Gearon presented the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), passed in 1938 and still implemented to this day. The law established work standards for those being paid on hourly and weekly basis.

“There were discussions on minimum wage and overtime standards, work hours, standards for a work-week, details on overtime, compensation rates, equal pay, and record-keeping requirements,” the DFA said.

Gearon distinguished between those employees covered by the FLSA and those excluded. Since 1986, public employees have been covered by the law.

Examples of compensable time were given in case not everybody was aware of them.

These included performing principal duties outside of work hours, travel time between job sites, breaks, preparatory work related to principal duties, “waiting” or “standing by” for work, and “employee arrives early to work and begins working,” among others.

Educated on rules

Gearon noted that employees can sue their employers to recover back wages and liquidated damages for up to three years, if violation were found to be willful. Employers cannot retaliate against employees for speaking out their complaints, he added.

In the end, FALDEF’s volunteer lawyers reiterated to all that it was important to “be educated on the rules, to comply, and when problems happen to seek an attorney.”

The next seminar will be held on July 9 in Philadelphia, under the sponsorship of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations-Pennsylvania. — JE, GMA News