SEN. Jinggoy Estrada yesterday said that fines and imprisonment await employers who refuse to comply with the government-mandated P50 daily minimum wage increase in Metro Manila effective today, Friday.
Estrada issued the warning as he pushed for a proposed measure that would impose stiffer penalties on employers who violate the prescribed wage increases and adjustments.
Estrada said he will refile his bill which seeks to amend RA 6727 or the Wage Rationalization Act, to introduce fines and stricter enforcement mechanisms against non-compliant individuals, corporations, and other entities.
“The Constitution requires the State to implement a living wage which is defined as one that ensures a ‘decent standard of human existence beyond mere subsistence level’ in contrast to a minimum wage which is the basic pay or daily wage plus cost of living allowance received by a worker not falling under the exemptions as provided under the Wage Rationalization Act,” Estrada said in Senate Bill No. 459 which he filed during the First Regular Session on the 19th Congress on July 2022.
Under the bill, individuals, corporations, trusts, firms, partnerships, associations, or entities that refuse or fail to pay the prescribed wage increases or adjustments shall be fined a minimum of P100,000 plus moral damages not exceeding P30,000 for each affected worker and the cost of litigation, including attorneys’ fees.
The same offense will have a jail term of a minimum of two years to a maximum of four years.
“Verily, the minimum wage fixed by law is lower than the ideal living wage. Still, compliance by corporations and other work establishments has remained a persistent problem and it is very disturbing, to say the least. With enhanced monitoring by the Department of Labor and Employment that is being proposed in this measure, it is expected that the mantle of protection we can stretch for our workers will be much assured,” he added.
