Women can use sick leave instead of proposed 'menstrual' benefits, says ECOP

MANILA - Female workers may use the available sick leave benefit when experiencing period cramps every month instead of the proposed menstrual leave which could lead to gender discrimination when hiring, the Employers Confederation of the Philippines said on Monday.

Several lawmakers are pushing for House Bill 7758, a measure seeking to give female workers "menstrual leave" every month. 

“They can use the other leaves that is available to them. Pwede nilang i-apply don sa vacation and sick leave nila 'yan (they can use vacation and sick leave for that)," ECOP President Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. said on ABS-CBN's TeleRadyo.

Aside from that, women also have access to service incentive leave, maternity leave, solo parent leave, battered women or violence against women leave, gynecological leave, paid vacations and other holidays, he said.

Ortiz-Luis said the proposed measure could also hurt smaller companies in terms of manpower and resources.

“Yung malalaking kumpanya, hindi naman problema yan. Ang problema, yung mga micro, yung magdagdag ka lang ng konti a day eh problema na sa kanila eh (Bigger firms won't have any issues with that. the problem is the small firms. If you add more burden, that's a huge problem for them),” he said.

Providing more leave credits to women may lead to gender preference and discrimination when hiring, he noted.

"Oo, ang problema riyan, maraming mawawalan ng trabaho. Sila ang unang matatamaan diyan, ang mga babae (The problem there is that many could lose their jobs. The female workers will suffer)," said Ortiz-Luis.

ECOP has yet to submit a position paper on the proposed measure, he said.

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