The Department of Labor and Employment said on Friday that Filipinos who work in private and public sectors who contracted the coronavirus at their workplaces may receive compensation.
“Kung sa evaluation ng Employees’ Compensation Commission (ECC) na napatunayan na sa trabaho nakuha ang COVID-19, ang manggagawa ay maaring makatanggap ng compensation,” said DOLE Occupational Safety and Health Center executive director Noel Binag.
According to Binag, workers may need to present a certificate of employment, medical records, and an RT-PCR test.
The DOLE Occupational Safety and Health Center is seeking the declaration of COVID-19 as a work-related illness, said the labor official in February.
They also submitted the recommendation to the governing board of the ECC, which is tasked to formulate policies for the said declaration.
Last month, Senator Risa Hontiveros stressed the need to declare COVID-19 as an occupational disease, to allow 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 said in a statement.
