As the pressure mounts on countries to ease their lockdown restrictions, the International Labor Organization has urged governments to control COVID-19 in the workplace with an active involvement and dialogue with employers’ and workers’ organizations.
All employers must carry out risk assessments and ensure their workplaces meet strict occupational safety and health criteria to minimize the risk to workers of exposure to COVID-19, the ILO says.
The group says without such controls, countries face the very real risk of a resurgence of the virus. Putting in place the necessary measures will minimize the risk of a second wave of contagion contracted at the workplace.
“The safety and health of our entire workforce is paramount today,” said ILO Director-General Guy Ryder.
“In the face of an infectious disease outbreak, how we protect our workers now clearly dictates how safe our communities are, and how resilient our businesses will be as this pandemic evolves.”
Livelihoods in danger
The continuing sharp decline in working hours globally due to the COVID-19 outbreak means 1.6 billion workers in the informal economy—nearly half of the global workforce-are in immediate danger of having their livelihoods destroyed, the ILO warns.
The group says the drop in working hours in the second quarter of 2020 is expected to be significantly worse than previously estimated.
Compared to pre-crisis levels (fourth quarter of 2019), a 10.5-per cent deterioration is now expected, equivalent to 305 million full-time jobs (assuming a 48-hour working week). The previous estimate was for a 6.7-percent drop, equivalent to 195 million full-time workers. This is due to the prolongation and extension of lockdown measures.
Regionally, the situation has worsened for all major regional groups. Estimates suggest a 12.4-percent loss of working hours in Q2 for the Americas (compared to pre-crisis levels) and 11.8 percent for Europe and Central Asia. The estimates for the rest of the regional groups follow closely and are all above 9.5 percent.
Payment delay allowed
The Labor department says employers are allowed to delay or postpone the payment of the workers’ holiday pay for May 1, Labor Day, due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Employers may postpone the holiday wage “until such time that the present emergency situation has been abated and the normal operations of the establishment are in place,” says Labor Advisory 15 released on April 30, 2020.
The department also says the establishments that have closed or ceased operations during the Enhanced Community Quarantine are exempted from the payment of the holiday pay.
But when things are back to normal, companies must pay attention to the computation of the wages of the workers on that day, the department says.
