In Valenzuela City, Philippines, a company paid an employee his salary in thousands of coins in several plastic bags. Due to this act of the company, their business permit got suspended. Russel Mañosa worked for NexGreen Enterprise factory, a company that works in the area of recycling plastic, and was paid for two days of work in dozens of small and big plastic bags full of coins. The salary of P1,056 ($21) salary in the form of small denominations, mostly in 5-centavo ($.0010), 10-centavo ($.0020), and P1 ($.020) coins, Philippine newspaper the Manila Bulletin reported.
Russel’s cousin posted a picture on Facebook to show the sheer number of coins. Russel said that the factory’s cashier told him to swap a large number of coins at a bank. With a lot of outrage on social media over this issue, a representative of the company along with Mañosa had a meeting which was presided over by the Mayor. This meeting was aired live on the Valenzuela City government’s Facebook page and also later on through the local media.
“Why did you pay your employee with five and ten cents? That is insulting and that is stripping the worker of dignity,” the Mayor asked. In response, the company representative claimed this to be a mistake and that the coins were not intended for Russel. However, this was not seen as a convincing defense and Mañoza claimed that payment in coins was made to spite him after he had complained about the company’s labor practices.
“In my own personal view, that’s not an accident. I already figured it out: You got irritated and you picked on him,” Gatchalian was quoted as saying by the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Subsequently, the Philippines Labour Secretary Silvestre Bello III ordered an investigation into the company. This investigation brought forth several other violations, including
- Mayor’s permit
- Waiver and/or undertaking
- Article 19 of the Civil Code of the Philippines in relation to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Circular No. 537 Series of 2006, when it paid its worker his salary in coins of small denomination more than the limit allowed by law
- Provisions of the Labor Code when it failed to pay the correct minimum wage, non-payment of overtime pay, non-payment of night shift differential, non-payment of holiday pay, and
- Provisions of other legislation for non-coverage of SSS, PhilHealth and PAG-IBIG fund.
The Mayor also noted that Nexgreen had a pattern of improper treatment towards its workers. Due to this act of the company, their business permit got suspended. Russel has already resigned from the company and asks that the company treat its remaining workers humanely.
Harsh Mahaseth is an Assistant Lecturer at Jindal Global Law School, and a Research Analyst at the Nehginpao Kipgen Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Jindal School of International Affairs, O.P. Jindal Global University. He is currently a Fellow at Kathmandu Tribune.
