Employers may require workers to get COVID-19 jabs under Alert Level 3, says Bello

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Thursday said there is now legal basis for employers in areas under Alert Level 3 to require their workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19.

For the legal basis, Bello cited in a television interview the resolution of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases regarding areas under Alert Level 3.

“Correct. Because now there is an obligation on the part of the employer na dapat vaccinated ang mga empleyado niya, so he can require yung mga empleyado na magpabakuna because now there is a legal basis,” Bello told ANC.

(There is an obligation on the part of the employer to have the employees vaccinated. He or she can now require the employees to get vaccinated because there is now a legal basis.)

He made the statement when asked if employers can fire unvaccinated employees since the expansion of capacity will only be allowed in several establishments if all their workers are fully inoculated.

Under Alert Level 3, establishments are allowed to operate at 30% indoor venue capacity only for fully vaccinated individuals and 50% outdoor venue capacity, provided that all employees are fully vaccinated.

He added that employers now can also withhold the salary of employees under the IATF resolution for Alert Level 3.

“May IATF resolution na nagsasabi na ‘yung Alert Level 3 puwedeng mag-operate ang restaurant pero ang restaurant kailangan vaccinated na ang mga empleyado at customer,” he said.

(There is an IATF resolution stating that a restaurant may operate under Alert Level 3 but the customers and workers should be vaccinated)

“Yun meron nang batas, so that is now an exemption kasi meron ng IATF. There is a basis now to hold the payment because it will have a violation of IATF resolution,” he said.

Businesses allowed to operate under Alert Level 3 include:

• indoor dine-in services of food preparation establishments such as commissaries, restaurants, and eateries;
• indoor sports courts or venues, fitness studios, gyms, spas or other indoor leisure centers or facilities, and swimming pools;
• Personal care services which include beauty salons, beauty parlors, medical aesthetic clinics, cosmetic or derma clinics, make-up salons, nail spas, reflexology, aesthetics, wellness, and holistic centers, and other similar establishments; acupuncture and electrocautery establishments, and massage therapy including sports therapy establishments. It also includes establishments providing tanning services, body piercings, tattooing, and similar services
• Indoor visitor or tourist attractions, libraries, archives, museums, galleries, and cultural shows and exhibits;
• Indoor venues for meetings, incentives, conferences, events (MICE);
  Indoor entertainment venues with live performers such as karaoke bars, clubs, concert halls, theaters, and cinemas

Prior to the IATF resolution, Bello said that the “no vaccine, no work” and “no vaccine, no pay” policies are illegal.

Bello, however, reiterated that only a law can make vaccination mandatory to all, including workers. He also said he does not favor mandatory vaccination until the country has enough vaccine supply.

"It’s not prudent to make it mandatory," he said.  —KBK, GMA News