PLDT reviewing status of 7,000 contractual employees

PLDT Inc. is reviewing the status of 7,000 employees that the government has ordered to be regularized, but it still intends to contest the decision of the Department of Labor and Employment.

“As we await further action on the part of the [Court of Appeals (CA)] on our petition, and in the meantime, we are in the process of putting in place and implementing an orderly processing of the individuals affected or names in the DOLE Secretary’s order,” PLDT chief corporate services officer Ray Espinosa said during the company’s annual stockholders’ meeting in Makati City on Wednesday.

The DOLE affirmed in May an order for PLDT to regularize more than 7,000 employees. The same the department ordered PLDT’s contractors to cease and desist from doing labor contracting.

PLDT contested the DOLE order before the CA in May. It claimed that the order was not in accordance with the law.

With the CA decision pending, Espinosa said the telco is currently reviewing the status of the 7,000 employees and if they are still fit to work.

“Whether they are still alive, whether they are well ... Who they are?” he said, noting that the company will have the employees undergo physical examination.

“We remain firm that the DOLE secretary’s order is not in accord with law, jurisprudence, and evidence presented,” Espinosa said. —VDS, GMA News