The Department of Labor and Employment announced that it will temporarily suspend labor inspection activities next month to address remaining compliance issues in labor standards this year and to prepare for next year's inspection activities.

DoLE Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma — through Administrative Order No. 342, s. 2022 — instructed regional offices to utilize the period next month to assess and submit names of labor inspectors qualified for the 2023 General Authority.

He added that qualified inspectors must have a "very satisfactory" rating during their last two assessments, and have no pending administrative or criminal charges.

"Consistent with the minimum qualification standards, the labor inspector recommended for General Authority must be holding at least a permanent Labor and Employment Officer III plantilla position, and must have attended and passed the 10-day basic training course for labor inspectors," Laguesma said.

He added that those who completed the course and have been qualified but not included in this year's general authority could still be included next year.

Aside from assessments and training for labor inspectors, regional officers are also tasked to log results of inspection activities in their Labor Inspection-Management Information System before the end of the year, and list all gadgets and data subscription plans used in inspection activities.

However, complaint inspections, including inquiries on the compliance of Occupational Safety and Health standards, technical safety inspections, and other forms of inspections directed by the Secretary will be excluded from the scheduled suspension.

As of 31 October, inspectors from the Agency have visited nearly 75,000 establishments across the country, with an initial compliance rate on general labor standards at 78.08 percent, OSHS at 53.95 percent and on observance of minimum wage at 94.49 percent.

The Labor department said that compliance rate for labor standards and OSHS have gone up to 88.2 percent and 72.6 percent, respectively, after inspection.