Private sector not implementing ‘no jab, no pay’ policy —Concepcion

Presidential Adviser for Entrepreneurship and Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion on Tuesday denied claims that the private sector is implementing a “no vaccine, no salary” policy.

“‘No jab, no pay,’ that’s not true,” Concepcion said at a virtual press briefing.

“None of the companies that we are aware of are implementing ‘no jab, no pay’,” he said.

It was Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) spokesperson Alan Tanjusay who bared about the said policy as a group of employees of a company in Metro Manila informed the labor group about it. 

Tanjusay urged the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to issue a labor advisory warning employers against implementing such a policy.

The Department of Health, meanwhile, said being vaccinated against COVID-19 is not a requirement for workers to receive their salaries.

Concepcion, however, said his group is recommending that employees of high-risk and labor-intensive business establishments should be fully vaccinated to prevent the unvaccinated ones from getting severe infection from COVID 19.

“We are making a recommendation to Secretary [Silvestre] Bello that in labor-intensive businesses for example, semiconductors, call centers, or even POGOs or business establishments that entry is only for fully vaccinated customers, we are requesting that a vaccine mandate be implemented only for these sectors to protect the unvaccinated,” he said.

“I hope that soon enough, as vaccine supply stabilizes, DOLE can look into making vaccination mandatory in these high-risk industries,” he said, in a separate statement.

The Duterte adviser also said that employers cannot use their employees’ vaccination status as an excuse not to pay their employees for services rendered.

“Employers should not use vaccination status as a qualifier whether the employee will get his or her salary. All employees should be paid for their work and service. No ifs and buts,” he said.—LDF, GMA News