Freelancers in the country can have more established terms and conditions now that the House Committee on Labor and Employment has granted the an approval to its proposed substitute bill.
Proposed by Albay 2nd District Joey Sarte Salceda, the measure seeks to provide protection to freelancers, or self-employed individuals who take seasonal or short-term jobs, such as wedding planners, content writers, artists, and others who take ‘gigs.’
Despite not being defined in the Labor Code, freelancers in the country have grown to around 1.5 million already.
According to the measure, freelancers would be entitled to a framework of contracts between them and their employer.
They can also enjoy night differential fees everytime they are required to report physically, whether it be at their workplace or field work.
Freelancers would also be given hazard pay if they are assigned to dangerous locations.
Meanwhile, employers who would pay for the services rendered at least fifteen (15) days late would be penalized. This also includes those who would compensate freelancers days beyond the agreed payment date.
Employers would also be prohibited from bargaining the agreed compensation for the freelancer.
Lastly, they could be punished for retaliating against a freelancer under certain conditions.
“Freelancing has become the lifeline for millions of Filipinos, especially those who lost their regular jobs during the pandemic. As the economy becomes more digital, there will be more freelancing. Without legal protections, we will also see more labor exploitation,” Salceda says.
“Freelancing will be the natural consequence of the shift towards working from home. We have to protect workers in this sector now, while the potential problems are still on a scale we can solve,” Salceda adds.
With freelancing paving its way into the economy, the House Ways and Means Chair believes that the future involves many industries transitioning into it.
“Freelancers will be like work-from-home OFWs in the future, because as the world grows more digitally-connected, millions of freelancers will have the chance to earn foreign currency while staying the Philippines. In fact, thousands already do. There is great potential in this sector. But we have to ensure that the labor issues we face in other sectors now do not spill over to this promising sector,” Salceda adds.
