Mandatory high heels disallowed
It will now be prohibited to require female employees to wear shoes with heels more than an inch in the Philippines.
Last August 25, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) issued Department Order No. 178, which bans the mandatory wearing of high heels in the workplace.
The order defines high heeled shoes as those “with narrow, pointed heels higher than an inch.”
Labor secretary Silvestre Bello III said the move is meant to address the occupational health and safety issues and concerns related to the wearing of high heeled female shoes and/or standing at work for long periods or frequent walking, such as strain on the lower limbs, aching muscles, hazardous pressure on hip, knee and ankle joints and sore feet.
Companies are directed to allow rest periods to break or cut the time spent on standing and walking and install appropriate flooring or mats that will mitigate the impact of frequent walking and prevent fatigue, such as wood or rubber floorings.
Companies are also mandated to provide tables or work surfaces with adjustable heights to allow workers to alternately sit and stand while performing their tasks, as well as seats that workers can use during rest periods or even during working hours, provided the employees can perform their duties in this position without detriment to efficiency.
These can be small foldable stools, which can be towed away easily so as not to hamper the work area.
The order will take effect 15 days after publication in a national broadsheet.
“As far as we know, the Philippines is the first country in Asia to ban the mandatory wearing of high heels in the workplace. We hope that the regulation will also be copied and applied for the benefit of workers in the entire Asian region,” said Alan Tanjusay, spokesperson of the Associated Labor Unions - Trade Congress of the Philippines.
With the order in place, millions of Filipina salesladies, promodizers, waitresses, lady guards, receptionists and those working in factory assembly lines “will now be freed from the bondage of unsafe and dangerous working conditions.”
Some salesladies and promodizers at a department store expressed relief over the DOLE order.
"Kanindot anang dili na mi mag-high heels kay dili gyud lalim mag highheels sulod sa otso oras namong trabaho. Maayo unta ipatuman na na. Makapahuway na gyud among bagtak," said one promodizer who asked not to be named.
It was ALU-TUCP that requested DOLE to ban the mandatory wearing of heels in workplaces, saying the same exposes female workers to risks and dangers in performing their duties.
Also, ALU-TUCP commended DOLE's Bureau of Working Conditions and the Occupational Safety and Health Center for heeding its call to allow workers “sitting breaks,” particularly salesladies and security guards.
"This is a big victory particularly for big labor such as ALUTUCP in empowering vulnerable, unorganized and contractual salesladies and security guards be protected by law," Tanjusay said.
Earlier, Bello mandated the creation of a Technical Working Group that would devise means to enforce Article 132 of the Labor Code, which calls for the establishments of “standards that will ensure the safety and health of women employees.”
The move was prompted by complaints that salesladies in department stores and similar establishments across the country are made to stand for the duration of their duty, which, Bello said, is detrimental to their health.