Man Receives 2-Day Salary In Coins, Company Accused Of 'Discrimination'

Government officials in Valenzuela City, Philippines suspended a local factory's business permit Wednesday after its owners admitted to paying a worker in the form of small change.

Mayor Rex Gatchalian suspended the business permit of Nexgreen Enterprise after one of the company's factory workers was found to have been paid his two-day P1,056 ($21) salary in the form of small denominations, mostly in 5-centavo ($.0010), 10-centavo ($.0020), and P1 ($.020) coins, Philippine newspaper the Manila Bulletin reported.

The worker, identified by The Philippine Star as Russel Mañoza, had also not been paid by the plastic hose factory the correct minimum wage, overtime pay, night shift differential and holiday pay. Valenzuela City's Worker's Affairs Office calculated that Mañoza should have received P55,614.93 ($1,135) for the five months of work he had rendered for Nexgreen.

Gatchalian — through a letter released Wednesday — gave the company 24 hours to corrects it violations, which included its payments of coins beyond the limit allowed by law and its failure to provide government-mandated benefits, or else the city "will have no recourse but to have the issued Business Permit... suspended or revoked or not renew (sic)."

Following the letter's release, the city said a Stop Order would be issued to Nexgreen and that the company would have 15 days to rectify all noted violations.

The company had told Gatchalian in a meeting that the coins had been wrongly given to Mañoza and that they were instead intended to be used for "religious activities," as per The Philippine Star. But Mañoza claimed that payment was done to spite him after he had complained about the company's labor practices.

The mayor, who had also noted that Nexgreen had a "pattern" of improper treatment toward its workers, found the company's claims regarding the coins' religious use hard to believe, according to the outlet.

"In my own personal view, that’s not an accident. I already figured it out: You got irritated and you picked on him," Gatchalian was quoted as saying by the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

In response to Mañoza's complaint, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the payment using the small denominations was "legal," but he claimed that it was a form of "discrimination," a report by ABS-CBN News said.

A 2006 circular released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the country's central bank, said P1 and P5 ($.100) coins can be used as payment in amounts not exceeding P1,000 ($20). It also said that 1-centavo ($.0002,) 5-centavo, 10-centavo and 25-centavo ($.0050) coins can be used in payments not exceeding P100 ($2).