A total of 39,547 companies have requested the suspension of 686,547 workers

Some 39,547 companies have requested until Monday the suspension of 686,547 workers, before the Ministry of Labor.
These suspensions have been requested through 63,502 requests, which the 39,547 companies have deposited for their different establishments.

These numbers are reported by the Minister of Labor, Winston Santos, who explained that of 686 thousand suspended employees, 604,913 apply to be benefited with the Employee Solidarity Assistance Fund (PHASE) program 1.
Interviewed in the radio program the Morning Option, which is broadcast by Independencia 93.3, the minister explained that employees of pharmacy, supermarket, grocery, and distribution and transportation of raw materials, food do not apply to PHASE 1 and security, mines or the financial sector, because they have not been allowed to operate.

He also indicated that the government would pay 70% of the salary of suspended workers for two months, as long as it applies for a minimum of 5,000 and a maximum of 8,500 pesos.
“It is not obligatory. What happens is that the suspension is without payment of salary, the government does what it urges, that is, it asks the workers to cover that part,” he said when questioned about the other 30% of the salary, which the government has recommended to employers to cover.

These measures only apply to the formal sectors of the economy, and the informal sectors must avail themselves of state protection through other programs such as Stay at Home and Progressed with Solidarity, aid that will be delivered according to the identification and registration of the System. Sole Beneficiary (SIUBEN).

“The phase program, we have now registered 616 thousand, in phase, formal workers, but that does not stop, the records continue, now one thing is PHASE, and another thing is Stay at Home,” said the minister.
He reminded employers that they must put the account number and bank of their suspended employees so that they can receive the benefit of the temporary payment since, of the 604 registered for Phase, only 371 thousand could be sent to the farm yesterday. He reiterated that all these procedures could be done digitally through the website of the ministry.

The Employee Solidarity Assistance Fund seeks to temporarily support workers with an unconditional cash transfer, which is part of the measures announced by President Danilo Medina in his speech on the crisis caused by the coronavirus.