The Department of Labor & Employment in Negros Oriental has stressed that employers must pay the wage adjustment due workers in the non-agriculture and agriculture sector which took effect recently through salary differentials if they could not give the salary hike immediately.
DOLE provincial head Maritess Mercado admitted that they could not reach out to all the employers in the province to inform them of the wage adjustment of P13 which the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board in Region 7 had approved.
It is impossible to write to and inform every single company or employer regarding the new daily wage rates for Negros Oriental, and “we are only relying” on the media to help disseminate such information, Mercado said.
Some workers who welcomed the development, however, were raising questions over the weekend on when they can start receiving the adjusted minimum daily wage.
The salary adjustment took effect March 10 this year, bringing to P303 from P290 the daily wage for a worker in the agriculture sector, and an increase to P323 from P310 a day for those employed in the non-agriculture sector in Negros Oriental.
Mercado said the RTWPB-7 had the approved wage adjustment published on Feb. 23 in the Sunstar, a regional paper, as well as tapping media outlets and posting about it on the Wage Board’s Facebook page.
She admitted, though, there may be employers who are uninformed of this decision but that “ignorance of the law excuses no one”.
She then urged employees to inform their respective employers of the salary adjustment that is mandated by law. (JFP)
