DOLE deploys 426 LLCOs to strictly enforce labor laws

From the Department of Labor and Employment

Secretary of Labor and Employment Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz yesterday revealed that she has issued general authority to 426 Labor Law Compliance Officers (LLCOs) to visit a total of 76,766 establishments all over the country this year to ensure their compliance with all labor laws and occupational health and safety standards.

“Following President Aquino’s directive to strictly enforce our labor laws to ensure the protection of our workers, we have deployed 426 LLCOs to carry out the President’s instruction,” said Baldoz.

The fully-trained LLCOs, armed with electronic gadgets as called for under the new Labor Laws Compliance System embodied in D.O. No. 131, Series of 2013, are envisioned to cover the target establishments, thereby enhancing the DOLE’s capability to expand its direct assistance and facilitation services for these companies to fully comply with labor laws, including occupational health and safety standards and anti-child labor regulations.

Baldoz said that 372 of the 426 LLCOs occupy new positions granted by President Aquino III on Labor Day in 2012.

The 372 new LLCOs have undergone intensive, four-level training programs consisting of the following courses: (1) Basic Course on General Labor Standards, Productivity, and DOLE Programs and Services; (2) Basic Occupational Safety and Health; (3) Advanced Course for LLCOs on the Single Entry Approach, Conciliation-Mediation, and Accident Investigation; and (4) Specialization Courses on Construction Safety, Social Audit, Boilers and Pressure Vessels, Electrical Safety, and Technical Safety Inspection.

“We are embarking on a major reform focusing mainly on adopting a policy shift from a purely regulatory mode of monitoring compliance to a progressively developmental mode, where voluntary compliance is encouraged through the availment [sic] of the different programs and services of the DOLE,” explained Baldoz.

The new LLCOs will use an online, web-based application system for transmitting and processing real-time data collected from the field using an electronic checklist embedded in the LLCOs’ electronic gadgets—Android-loaded tablets.

dole.gov.ph