Non-remittance of employees’ contributions to the Social Security System (SSS), the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), and the Pag-IBIG Fund appeared to be the workers’ top concern gauged from calls received by Hotline 1349 set up by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
In a report, DOLE said the hotline has fielded over 126,000 inquiries from 2023 until the first quarter of the 2024.
Aside from non-remittance of employees’ contributions, other major concerns received by the department were on the release of retirement benefits, computation of holiday pay, separation, suspension, and job termination, local employment opportunities, as well as the process of job hiring and placement.
Last year, the hotline tellers responded to 83,683 queries on labor standards; 9,177 queries on social protection and welfare; 4,171 queries on employment facilitation, including TUPAD and youth employment programs; and 1,329 queries on labor relations, the DOLE records showed.
In the first quarter of 2024, the hotline received 24,649 calls on labor standards; 3,100 calls on employment facilitation; 1,549 calls on social protection and welfare; and 278 calls on labor relations.
The DOLE advises the public to call Hotline 1349 for immediate response and action to the labor and employment concerns of Filipino work.