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The factory owner who paid his worker’s salary in centavos has tested positive for COVID-19 at a time when his company is expected to comply with various business operations violations, Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian said Thursday.

P1,056 worth of coins, mostly in 5- and 10-centavo, as well as one-peso denominations.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is also investigating the case of the Valenzuela City factory worker whose salary was paid to him in centavo coins by his company.

Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian is inclined to believe that what happened to the factory worker who received his P1,056 salary in coins was done deliberately to “torment” the worker for raising his concerns against his company’s alleged unfair labor practices.

Can an employer pay their employees’ salaries purely in coins? Under Circular No. 537 Series of 2006 issued by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), payment, particularly in the form of coins, shall be “legal tender” or must be accepted for as long as it does not exceed a certain limit. For P1 to P5 denominations, they must not exceed P1,000 while 1, 5, 10 or 25 cents must not exceed P100 in total. Several social media users pointed this out, citing the circular from the BSP, after the report about a Valenzuela City worker who received his salary in coins worth P1,056, mostly in 5-cent and 25-cent and one-peso denominations, made the rounds Monday. Some even said the action done by the worker’s employer was illegal, although the local government of Valenzuela and the concerned factory worker in the incident have not done yet a complete inventory of the coins, so the legality of the incident cannot be said yet. But the factory worker believed the action was done “intentionally” as a form of “retribution” of the company against him for complaining about alleged unfair labor practices they experienced, Mayor Rex Gatchalian said.