More domestic workers want right wages

MANILA, Philippines – Two years after the full implementation of the Kasambahay Law, more domestic workers are filing cases to compel their foreign and local employers to pay right wages and benefits, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said yesterday.

In the first three months of 2015 alone, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) recorded a total of 404 requests for assistance (RFAs) filed by kasambahays.

“Of the 404, 61 or 15 percent were filed by kasambahay working here while 343 were filed by household service workers (HSWs) abroad,” Baldoz said, citing a report from the DOLE’s National Conciliation and Mediation Board ((NCMB).

Baldoz said the workers filed RFAs before the NCMB due to non-payment of their salaries, back pay, overtime pay, 13th month pay, service incentive leave, medical leave, underpayment of wages and non-remittance of Social Security System, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG premiums.

The labor chief then noted that DOLE was able to facilitate the release of P2,563,397 worth of benefits to 173 kasambahays through the NCMB’s conciliation and mediation mechanism.

“In the first quarter of 2015, NCMB also succeeded in negotiating for the settlement of P966,342.62 financial benefits for the kasambahays who filed RFAs,” Baldoz said.

Baldoz said the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration is also attending to RFA filed by HSWs working abroad.

The referrals for assistance covered such issues as alleged maltreatment, non-payment of salaries, non-refund of travel expense, non-payment of medical assistance, and withholding of return travel documents.

Over the last two years, Baldoz said, a total of 3,793 RFAs were filed by kasambahays. Of the number, 324 were filed by local kasambahays, and 3,454 were filed by overseas-based household service workers. –Mayen Jaymalin (The Philippine Star)