Should employees get paid for their absences due to COVID-19?

Tabuk City, Kalinga - Employee Juan, not his real name, whose occupation requires face-to-face tasks, was inflicted with COVID-19 by a co-employee at work.

In a virtual interview, Juan said he was not quite bothered because he was asymptomatic but what worried him was that he will not be able to report and get to be paid for 14 days which covers his quarantine period.

Being the only breadwinner in the family, with a wife pregnant at home, Juan said, “Buti sana kung sasahuran nila ako e nakuha naman yun sa trabaho lang.”

Like him, employees of organizations and companies with jobs not qualified for work-from-home arrangements cry the same sentiment because they missed work due to being a direct contact of a COVID-19 patient and needed to isolate themselves.

What workers who suffered from Covid-19 can get from DOLE

“Hindi pa siguro alam ng ibang workers pero meron tayong sinasabing ECP (Employee’s Compensation Program),” informed Kalinga-Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Senior Labor Employment Officer Emmanuel Barcellano.

He emphasized that the Philippines has a law, the ECP (Employee’s Compensation Program) under the Employee’s Compensation Commission (ECC) of DOLE, that employees either from the public or private may claim cash aid if they are affected by work-related contingencies or suffered from sickness, injuries, or even death due to work-related causes.

Barcellano explained that this includes workers who had been infected with COVID-19 or those who are unable to report due to Coronavirus health risks.

Earlier, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the ECC board has approved the inclusion of the coronavirus disease in its list of occupational and work-related diseases.

Barcellano, however, reminded that employees who are members of the SSS or GSIS are the only ones eligible to receive the said assistance. He encouraged employees to visit https://ecc.gov.ph/ or call the DOLE-Kalinga offices on how to avail and to inquire for a better understanding of the assistance.

"They can visit the website of ECC or DOLE-Kalinga field office for assistance," he said.

What are ECC and ECP?

The ECP provides a package of benefits and services for public and private sector employees and their dependents in the event of work-connected contingencies such as sickness, injury, disability, or death.

The ECC meanwhile, is a quasi-judicial corporate entity and attached agency of the DOLE which initiates, rationalizes, and coordinates the policies of the ECP which is implemented by the Social Security System (SSS) for the private sector and Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) for the public sector. It ensures assistance for all the frontline workers who suffered from covid-19 by reason of their employment.

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