“I clarified this during the IATF meeting last Tuesday. I emphasized that the COVID-19 Vaccination Program Act of 2021 was clear on the non-compulsory nature of vaccination as an additional requirement for employment,” he told reporters on Thursday.Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, who has made exemptions to the policy against mandatory COVID-19 vaccination, was on an official trip overseas and did not attend the IATF meeting.
Bello, however, also claimed that employers are within their right to include COVID-19 vaccination among the qualifications for job applicants. “Under the IATF resolution … [certain] employers cannot have employees come to work if they are not vaccinated,” Bello said. DOLE has received the first formal complaint against a company unlawfully implementing a “no vaccine, no work” policy.