DOLE: Workers who test positive for COVID-19 may receive compensation

By CNN Philippines Staff, 23 Apr 2021

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 23) – Filipinos working in private and public sectors who contracted the COVID-19 at their workplaces may receive compensation, the Department of Labor and Employment said Friday.

“Kung sa evaluation ng Employees’ Compensation Commission (ECC) na napatunayan na sa trabaho nakuha ang COVID-19, ang manggagawa ay maaring makatanggap ng compensation,” DOLE Occupational Safety and Health Center executive director Noel Binag said in a virtual briefing.

[Translation: If the Employees Compensation Commission found out in their evaluation that the COVID-19 was contracted at work, the employee may be given compensation.]

Binag said workers may need to present a certificate of employment, an RT-PCR test, and medical records.

The DOLE official in February said they were seeking the declaration of COVID-19 as a work-related illness.

The Occupational Safety and Health Center of DOLE also submitted the recommendation to the governing board of the ECC, which is tasked to craft policies for the said declaration.

Last month, Senator Risa Hontiveros stressed the need to declare COVID-19 as an occupational disease, allowing employees to avail of insurance and other benefits provided by the ECC.

“Workplaces and mass transportation are the new ‘hot spots’ of virus transmission. Declaring COVID-19 as an occupation disease will ensure that the workers who will contract the disease while at work or in transit will be compensated under the national policy for employment injury benefits,” Hontiveros was quoted as saying in a statement.