New law makes contract renewals easy

A bill seeking to simplify the procedure for renewing non-resident employment contract was signed into law by Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio in fresh bid to streamline the operations of the labor and immigration department and reduce employers’ expenses for processing fees.

Public Law 11-58 amended existing laws which provide steps in renewing contracts of guest workers amid calls from the private sector for less government intervention in the employment agreement between employers and employees.

Under the old procedure, employers are required to submit a copy of the work contract of their employees every time they seek renewal, along with other documents like police clearance, health screening results, xerox copy of employee’s passport, newspaper advertisement for the position, and compliance report on the 20 percent hiring of locals.

But with the new law, employers will only be required to submit to the director of Labor Division a statement signed between the employer and the employee stating agreement of both parties to extend the period of employment instead of the work contract, which is usually consist of eight pages.

According to Rep. Heinz S. Hofschneider, co-author of the measure, the law will cut down the tedious task of the Department of Labor and Immigration of going over stacks of documents while enhancing efforts to ensure compliance with federal and local laws.

“It will substantially reduce the work load of the department and still afford the government the oversight responsibility to continue to enforce the mandate of the laws,” Hofschneider said in a telephone interview.

He added the legislation will also address concerns of businessmen regarding government interference in the terms and conditions of the employment of non-resident workers.

“The government should stick its nose out of the terms and conditions of employment contract,” the legislator said. “The government should not be dictating what should be in the contract. We are not in the business of brokering terms and conditions.”

The new laws provides that renewal of contracts should be submitted not earlier than 45 days or 10 days later prior to the expiration of work agreement.

“For the sake of clarification, I have confirmed with the Legislature the intention of this statute is that employers desiring to hire nonresident workers will still have to comply with the advertisement provisions (of the Nonresident Workers Act),” the governor said in a letter to the Legislature.

Tenorio said he hoped the measure will help the private sector reduce its expenses at a time when the economy is sluggish.