Labor group Partido Manggagawa on Thursday rejected Senate Bill 1515 exempting employers from any liability once their workers contracted the deadly corona virus.

The group thumbed down the proposed bill of Senator Vicente Sotto III as this would leave the workers on their own once they are infected with COVID-19.

“This contemptible proposal must be rejected outright by the Senate. It clearly defies accountability and justice as Sotto was only concerned with the depleting resources of the employers and never with the sick bodies of the workers whom capital badly needs in restarting a shattered economy,” said PM Chairman Renato Magtubo in a statement.

The labor group said the proposal was also in direct opposition to the workers’ demand for a safe return to work, which include the provision of mass testing, paid quarantine leave, strict implementation of Occupational Safety and Health law, safe transport services, and full medical coverage by Philhealth once workers get infected.

Under the Department of Labor and Employment- Department of Trade and Industry Guidelines on Workplace Prevention and Control of COVID-19, employers were required compliance or deemed accountable to the occupational health and safety standards, including the provision of testing and other minimum health standards at the workplace.

“Sotto’s wayward proposal is therefore out of line and can be arrested outright by the Senate committee where it will be referred to for violating workplace health and labor standard protocols," said Magtubo.

Under SB No. 1515, private businesses that were allowed to operate during the COVID-19 crisis shall not be liable for “any claims made by employees” who were infected with the virus while working.

The liability protection shall extend not only to the registered owner or owners but even the officers of the private establishment.