The Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) on Friday urged the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to look into reports of discrimination at workplaces on unvaccinated employees and jobseekers against COVID-19.
At a media briefing in Quezon City, PAO chief Persida Rueda-Acosta said verbal and written requests, including those posted on the social media platforms have flooded the agency, asking for PAO’s assistance to step into the discrimination issue being experienced at workplaces.
“Job applicants have been refused admission due to non-vaccination, which is contrary to what is specifically stated in Item No. III,” she told the Manila Standard.
She cited the No-Discrimination or Termination of DOLE Labor Advisory No. 03 of 2021 mandating that “no-vaccine no-work policy shall NOT be allowed.”
To require an unvaccinated employee to go through a weekly swab test is such a burden, Acosta said, adding the test is very much expensive.
Most unvaccinated workers, mostly from the private sector, are “actually victims of constructive dismissal,” she noted.
“Many of them are forced to get the COVID-19 jab, an experimental drug,” the PAO chief said.
“Forcing somebody to be vaccinated directly or indirectly is a willful misconduct,” she added.