COVID-19 Need Not Cause Layoffs

Key Takeaways
• Layoffs, when merely reactive, can become regressive business acts fraught with potentially regretful, lasting, and industry-defining fiscal and legal consequences. Mass dismissals may cause greater, long term costs that outweigh all short term financial gain. Retrenchment should not be the "first resort" but the "last resort".
• Retrenchment is subject to statutory criteria, aimed at fairness and reasonableness, as well as procedural requirements. Employers can choose a "temporary layoff," rather than a permanent one, placing employees in "floating status" for no longer than 6 months.
• The Philippine government continues to provide an array of relief measures to help businesses arrive at creative solutions.
• The "Bayanihan to Heal as One Act", or Republic Act No. 11469, has provided the national and local governments with additional funds and broad powers aimed at stimulating the economy, assisting health workers, and extending statutory deadlines.
• There is agency alignment:
 The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has twice reduced interest rates for overnight lending
 The Department of Social Welfare and Development has implemented the Social Amelioration Program implemented
 The COVID-19 Adjustment Measures Program, or "CAMP", allows employees to claim financial assistance from the Department of Labor of Employment
 The Department of Trade and Industry has provided guidelines for the grant of a 30-day grace period for residential and commercial rent
 At least 14 local governments have extended deadlines for payment of local taxes.
• Outside of emergency legislation, the private sector has voluntarily initiated several emergency response packages consisting of loan deferments, wages, and rental fee waivers for its employees and lessees