The Department of Labor and Employment will hire additional labor inspector officers as part of the government’s campaign to end illegal contractualization and enforce compliance with labor standards and existing laws.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the Department of Budget and Management has already approved DoLE’s request to tap new personnel on top of the existing 525 LLCOs deployed across the country.
He said the department will fill up the 36 new LLCO positions to complement the roster of compliance officers for assignment to key areas where non-compliance with labor laws and standards is high.
“These new positions will augment our manpower in the assessment and inspection of business establishments in the country, particularly on their compliance with Department Order No. 174,” Bello said.
The new positions, with a P15- million budget, will be further boosted, Bello said, when the Labor department submits to Congress a request for additional 200 LLCO items to effectively perform assessment and inspection of around 937,554 small, medium and big business establishments in the country.
Bello said the LLCOs are also expected to conduct plant-level joint assessment of compliance by employer and workers’ representative; initiate awareness-raising and capacity-building of both employers and the workers and unions.
“The LLCOs are mandated to check the establishments’ voluntary compliance through the Incentivizing Compliance Program [ICP]; and help in enhancing plant-level partnership mechanism, such as the Labor Management Committee [LMC] or any workplace cooperation and partnership structure by ensuring sub-committees on OSHS,” he said.
He said the LLCOs are also expected to ensure the establishments’ implementation on Compliance Productivity, Family Welfare Program and Grievance through convergence of DoLE plant-level programs and services known as the LMC Convergence Programs.