The Employees’ Compensation Program (ECP) in the Philippines recently announced that employees who were injured or died of causes related to their work-from-home status will now be entitled to benefits. However, the benefits will only apply to those employees who are required to work remotely.
One of the many benefits employees receive when signing their work contracts is workers’ compensation that protects employees (or their families) if they injure or die because of work-related causes.
In theory, any type of employee, whether remote or not, should have these benefits regardless of the location. But do all remote employees really have these benefits? The Philippines just ensured they do.
Philippines New Extended Workers’ Compensation
The Board Resolution No. 21-03-09 states that the disability or death to injuries of remote employees is now compensable under the ECP. The only requirement is that there is a written order from their employer that establishes there is a working-from-home arrangement. The compensation includes unemployment, medical, and death/funeral benefits.
The Executive Director of the ECC established the importance of making these benefits a possibility for remote workers:
Employees who are working from home are not exempted from possible work-connected disabilities or death due to injury-related incidents. We need to extend our benefits to cover work-connected injury or death that they may suffer while in the performance of their duties or specific tasks at their residences or dwelling places.
The pandemic has impacted the way companies work. Not only in terms of managing and dealing with virtual teams. But also in how they arrange their work policies and compensations. Countries like the Philippines are embracing working-from-home policies that safeguard employees’ health and well-being – including equal workers’ compensation for both remote and non-remote workers.
