Companies are not allowed to strip workers of their regular employment status due to the coronavirus pandemic, the labor department said Monday.

“May mga pailan-ilan na natatanggap naming report. Pero hindi puwede iyon… Hindi puwede iyong sabihin mong hindi ka na regular employee, kontrata ka na lang,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said.

(We have received several reports on this, but that is not allowed. You cannot say, you’re no longer a regular employee, you will just be a contractual worker.)

Employers can instead implement a flexible work arrangement that cuts the number of days an employee is required to report, he told ABS-CBN’s TeleRadyo.

Companies that will permanently close due to bankruptcy are required to compensate their workers, he added.

Watch Bello’s full interview here.

TeleRadyo, Aug. 10, 2020