Dole to resume labor inspections

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) has resumed the labor laws compliance inspection on private establishments in the country.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III issued Administrative Order No. 27, Series of 2020, giving general authority for all regional offices to resume routine inspections in their areas of jurisdiction.

In December 2019, Dole suspended the said inspection activities to enable the department to dispose of all pending labor standards cases and prepare the inspection programs for 2020.

The country has more than 900,000 private business establishments subject to regular labor inspection.

The labor laws compliance officers who will conduct the inspection are tasked to ensure the compliance of private companies with general labor standards, such as proper payment of wages during holidays, overtime pays, implementation of the minimum wage law, remittance of social benefits of their workers, and others.

Also subject to inspection is the compliance of companies with health and safety standards.

The Dole said that as of September 2019, it has inspected a total of 57,514 establishments covering 2.3 million workers.