DOLE exec: Vaccination status as basis for termination prohibited

An official of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Thursday clarified that terminating employees is prohibited if the only reason is their being unvaccinated against COVID-19.

“Kung ang termination niya ang sole basis ay unvaccinated hindi po, bawal po ‘yan,” Labor Undersecretary Ana Dione said during Laging Handa briefing.

(If the sole basis for termination of workers is their being unvaccinated, that’s not allowed.)

“Unvaccinated as basis of termination, palagi nating inuulit na ‘yan po ay discrimination” (Being unvaccinated as basis for termination, we repeatedly say, it is discrimination), she said.

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

Bello cited the resolution of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) regarding areas under Alert Level 3.

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.

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

“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 be a violation of IATF resolution,” Bello said.

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