The increase in benefits will be implemented retroactively, with Sept. 1, 2013 as date of effectivity MANILA, Philippines – The Social Security System (SSS) released the terms of its 10% across-the-board disability pension increase and doubled funeral grant under the Employees’ Compensation (EC) Program.

In the movie Casablanca, there’s a famous scene where Captain Renault, the head of the French police, avoids investigating the murder of a Nazi officer by telling his people to “round up the usual suspects.” The implication, of course, is that everyone should look busy and professional, even if the routine doesn’t really accomplish anything.

As home retailer Ikea announced plans to raise the average, hourly minimum wage at its U.S. stores to $10.76, the pressure is mounting for other big brand businesses to lift pay for their workers.

(First of two parts) She was a single mom in her 40s. With her two kids, she left her hometown in Isabela to go to Manila to seek a better life. That better life was supposed to be working as a call center agent. Then one day, things changed completely.

‘Understanding the differences among us actually enriches our lives and leads to a more harmonious and tolerant environment’ You see me on the street and you’re not sure how to place me. I know she’s a girl, but why the barber cut? She’s pretty, but why the masculine attire? You see an effeminate man in…

EXTREME poverty may end within a generation, a report from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) said. “For the first time in history, the world may see the end of extreme poverty — as soon as the next generation,” the UNDP said in its 2013/2014 annual report, released Wednesday.

The high court issues a decision on two cases related to police searches of mobile phones, calling modern cell phones “not just another technological convenience.”

More Philippine and foreign and companies are likely to invest in Southeast Asia, taking advantage of the opportunities offered by a single market ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), a losing proposition for Manila unless the government starts relaxing the conditions for foreign investors.

Policy changes by the United Arab Emirates threatens the continued deployment of Filipino household service workers, or HSWs, to the UAE.

MANILA, Philippines–They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Two people were killed after they were hit by falling steel beams as they were inside a mess hall in a construction site in San Juan City on Monday.

MANILA, Philippines – Two persons were killed when a metal beam fell on a canteen at a construction site in San Juan City yesterday.

Sure, everybody’s had those weeks where you just want to get home from work and flop onto the sofa until your headache subsides. But if that’s happening every week — well, you’ve got a lot of company, for one thing, but it shouldn’t be like that. Yes, we’re all working harder and getting little (or…

SINGAPORE – More Singaporean employers are now tapping the services of private investigators to trail their maids during off days and monitor their activities, according to The Straits Times report.

Thailand tops regional scorecard while Vietnam brings up the rear The Philippines’ top publicly listed corporations have improved their corporate governance (CG) practices over the past year but they need to work harder to catch up with peers from Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, according to the Asean corporate governance scorecard. The average CG scores of…

THE United States is very interested to promote entrepreneurship and innovation around in the Philippines and other developing countries to address the inequality problems.

The financial crisis that has affected the US and many other countries can be traced to bad corporate practices of lending to people who were likely to default on their payments. And default they did! So now the global economy is reeling.

As a manager, you can’t accept under-performance. It’s frustrating, time-consuming, and it can demoralize the other people on your team. But what do you do about an employee who isn’t performing up to snuff? How do you help turn around the problematic behavior? And how long do you let it go on before you cut…

MANILA – The ASEAN Economic Integration (AEC) offers immense business opportunities that both the government and the private sector must exploit to fully benefit from its advantages.

What is happening in our country now really calls for some radical and drastic changes. Such changes can only be realized through a revolution. This is not a revolution that entails the toppling of this government by raising arms against it. This is a revolution staged at the polling precincts starting at the 2016 elections.…

MANILA, Philippines – Listed companies in the Philippines recorded higher ratings in terms of corporate governance and investor protection efforts last year, a development that will help attract more investors in the country.

MANILA, Philippines – A 21-year-old helper died after he was pinned by two backhoes in a warehouse in Valenzuela City Saturday morning.

Maid in Brazil TO UNDERSTAND how maids are regarded by many in Brazil you only have to look at @AMinhaEmpregada (“my maid”), a Twitter feed that retweets the unpleasant, aggressive and sometimes racist things that some employers say about their staff. In 2011 there were 6.7m domestic workers among the country’s 201m people. These workers…

MANILA – Households dependent on wage earners have been wobbling from the swift rise in the prices of basic goods and services since May, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said Sunday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Social Security System (SSS) said it would no longer accept hardcopy or paper-based contribution and loan collection lists from employers beginning July 1.

Preparing for rougher seas ahead: Bancas for the Philippines offers a platform to make a climate-smart technology – mass-based. In turn, more fishermen boost their resilience, self-reliance, and self-sufficiency. (Derrick Lim / Imagine Nation Photography) MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR) has started building 5,000 units of…

I remember I met a young executive once while I was out on a dinner with friends some long time ago. One of our conversations led to his past employers, and my, I was so astonished to hear that many of his past employers –including the latest one- all happened to be my friends.

Kelly Sortino had a tough time recalling what she’d accomplished at the end of each hectic workday. Her job as head of the upper school for the Crystal Springs Uplands School in Hillsborough, Calif., often required working 12-hour days, including weekends and evenings. She enjoyed the work but worried that she wasn’t accomplishing everything she…

This speech was delivered by New York-based fashion model and transgender rights activist Geena Rocero at the Democratic National Committee LGBT leadership council’s annual gala in the United States on June 16, 2014.

FOREIGN investors are keenly awaiting the outcome of the Charter- Change (Cha-cha) initiatives in both houses of Congress to relax the foreign-ownership restrictions in the country, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said.

With millions of pounds in the bank, you might have thought the world’s super-rich wouldn’t have a care in the world. But a new survey has revealed the top fears of the world’s wealthiest people, and one of the most common is that their money is their children’s ambition and drive to do well.