By Brian Campued
Delivery riders and ride-hailing drivers working for Transport Network Vehicle Service (TNVS) companies are eligible to receive support through the Employees’ Compensation (EC) program, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said.
In a news release Monday, DOLE reiterated that the EC program covers registered Social Security System (SSS) members, including self-employed workers, since September 2020, ensuring independent workers and freelancers have access to vital work-related benefits as those as company-employed workers.
“The ECC (Employees’ Compensation Commission) strongly encourages all self-employed platform workers—including gig workers, app-based contractors, delivery riders, and TNVS drivers registered under the SSS—to review their eligibility and actively claim the financial and medical benefits available to them through the EC Program,” the Labor department said.
The government program provides a compensation package to registered SSS members and/their dependents in the event of work-related sickness, injury, or death.
Cash compensation may be provided to workers whose sources of income were affected by a temporary total disability, permanent total disability, or permanent partial disability arising from work. The daily sickness allowance for temporary total disability ranges from P110 to P480, while an additional P1,150 benefit is provided for permanent disabilities (partial or total).
The program also reimburses expenses for medicines for the illness or injury, treatment, hospitalization, surgery, and appliances or supplies used. Medical services during confinement are limited to ward services in hospitals accredited by the Department of Health.
Handicapped workers may likewise receive remedial treatment, vocational assessment, and preparation intended to help them return to suitable employment. Rehabilitation services include medical services, psychosocial counseling, psychiatric evaluation, skills or entrepreneurship training, or job referral among others.
A P1,000 monthly carer’s allowance is also provided to an employee who suffers from a permanent partial or permanent total disability as a result of a work-related contingency arising out of employment.
Meanwhile, a P30,000 funeral benefit may be paid to the surviving spouse, legitimate child, or any person who can prove that they paid the funeral expenses of an employee who died from job-related causes.
For workers who died as a result of compensable sickness or injury, a death benefit in the form of pension could also be provided to their primary beneficiaries, with an additional 10% to each minor dependent child.
To qualify for benefits under the EC program, DOLE said a worker must have paid at least one month of SSS contributions before the occurrence of any work-related illness, accidental injury, or disability.
An EC claim can be filed with the SSS by either the self-employed individual or a family member, and it must be submitted within three years.
However, financial compensation will be withheld from a self-employed worker and their dependents should any injury, sickness, disability, or death arise from intoxication, intention to injure or kill oneself or another, or notorious negligence.
-jpv
