Freelancers Workers Protection Act on the move, HR approves on second reading

By Gem Marquez

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The House Bill No. 8817 or the “Freelance Workers Protection Act," that seeks to protect the rights and welfare of freelance workers was approved on the second reading last March 17 by the House of Representatives over voice voting.

The proposed measure aims to guarantee the freelance workers an entitlement to improve the freelancing community’s working conditions and enforce just living compensation. This bill also institutes a fine on clients who disregard the rights enacted.

The Covid-19 pandemic has profoundly affected the many lives of workers and employers which led the House Subcommittee on Labor Relations in 2020 to develop bills securing independent laborers.

“With the pandemic hitting our economy hard and thousands of workers projected to lose their jobs… the number of freelancers is expected to grow even higher. More individuals will most likely turn to freelance work to earn a living and more business owners are anticipated to look into hiring freelance workers to cut on labor costs and to address seasonality of demand,” Subcommittee chair Rep. Michael Aglipay said, quoted from ABS-CBN News.

Under the proposed measure, it also aims to provide hazard pay and night shift differential to freelancers. The film and television industries are inclusive to these provisions.

“It is regular practice to schedule night shoots… We feel that adding a 10 percent night differential would unduly burden everyone in the industry, and it will inhibit growth in the production,” the president of Directors’ Guild of the Philippines, Inc. (DGPI), Paolo Villaluna said in a report of ABS-CBN News.

“Freelancers who are required to be physically present in the workplace or those on field assignments, and who earn a maximum total monthly compensation of P30,000 a month, shall be paid a night shift differential of not less than 10% of his/her compensation for the day that he or she performed his work between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.,” Aglipay said regarding his proposal to mandate the night differential fee exclusive to freelancers.

Pursuant to the proposed action, any hiring party obtaining or retaining the services of a freelance worker should have a written agreement before services are rendered.

The bill defines freelancers as “any natural person who offers or renders a task, work, or service through his or her freely chosen means or methods, free from any form of economic dependence, control, or supervision by the client, regardless of whether he or she is paid by results, piece, task, hour, day, job, or by the nature of the services required.”

Among freelancers' privileges listed in the proposed measure were:

1. Written contract or agreement;

2. Just compensation;

3. Safe and healthy working conditions;

4. Self-organization and collective negotiation with the government, client, or other entities for their welfare;

5. Freedom from any form of discrimination, violence, sexual harassment, and abuse;

6. Representation and participation in making policies and social dialogue;

7. Access to their own data, information, and resources for the protection of their rights and welfare;

8. Affordable and adequate financial services, including collateral-free and gender-balanced credit at low interest;

9. Social protection and social welfare benefits;

10. Speedy redress of grievances, including alternative dispute resolution processes.

According to Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) vice president Luis Corral per ABS-CBN News, “Some of our social partners in the employment and management sector may try to avail of this well-intentioned law to work out independent contracts with masons, carpenters, who have no bargaining power, and no leverage,” stressing the value of language used in the enactment to keep it from being exploited by the employing part.

“We are flagging the concern that there might be misclassification of functions such that even activities necessary and desirable to the company or core to the function of the company might be subjected to independent contracts,” he added.

The proposed measure furthermore described the following as an unlawful practice for a hiring party:

1. Pay the compensation due to the freelance worker later than 15 days after the date of payment of compensation stated in the written contract or after the rendition of services in cases where there is no written contract;

2. Require as a condition of payment of compensation, at any time after a freelance worker has commenced rendition of practices, that a freelance worker accept less than the specified contract price; and

3. Commit any act of retaliation against a freelance worker.

“A person who commits any of the unlawful practices aggrieved by a violation of this Act may file a complaint with the Department of Labor and Employment, through the Undersecretary for Workers with Special Concerns, without prejudice to the filing of a civil action in appropriate cases,” the bill read.