Senator Joel Villanueva urged the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to ramp up the awareness on the Telecommuting Law (Republic Act No. 11165), which encourages the private sector to develop and implement telecommuting work arrangements with their employees, amid the country’s worsening traffic problem.
Villanueva, chair of the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources Development, particularly called on the labor authorities in Cebu to take drastic steps to mitigate its impact following the declaration of a traffic crisis in the province by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.
“While it may not be the magic pill that will resolve the traffic situation, we believe that the impact of the law will help reduce the need of workers to travel to their places of work, thereby easing the demand in public transport in the short term,” Villanueva said.
He said telecommuting allows workers to maintain their productivity with the lesser time they allot to travel from one place to another.
He cited that the law’s implementing rules and regulations mandate the DOLE to undertake a study to identify jobs that can be fulfilled under a telecommuting work arrangement.
“The study will help guide employers as they consider implementing their own telecommuting policies in their office,” he said.
“For those companies that have existing telecommuting policies, we urge them to notify the DOLE Regional Office which has jurisdiction to ensure that these are compliant with existing labor laws and regulations,” he added. (PNA)