Holiday pay rules

LABOR Secretary Marianito Roque has advised all employers in the private sector to follow the holiday pay rules for tomorrow, June 9, a holiday.

President Macapagal-Arroyo, through Presidential Proclamation No. 1463 issued on Feb. 18 this year, moved the celebration of Independence Day to June 9 from June 12 to give employees a long weekend.

Under the pay rules, if the holiday falls on an employee’s regular workday and is unworked, he or she should be paid 100 percent of his or her regular salary for that day.

If the day is worked, 200 percent of the regular daily rate shall apply on the first eight hours plus 30% of the hourly rate if it is in excess of eight hours.

If the day falls on an employee’s rest day and is unworked, 100 percent of the regular daily rate shall apply.

If the day is worked, plus 30% of 200% shall apply on the first eight hours, and plus 30% of the hourly rate in excess of 8 hours. By: Efren Montano - Journal online

Villar warns on threat to labor export

SENATE President Manuel Villar Jr. yesterday warned that the stringent rules imposed on the direct-hiring of Filipino workers, such as requiring prospective employers to place a bond amounting to more than $5,000 will result in the non-competitiveness of Filipino labor.

He wants the Senate to conduct an inquiry into the memorandum restricting the direct-hiring of Filipino workers which was implemented in the wake of pronouncements by various governments allowing Filipino workers to fill up their manpower needs.

Villar filed Resolution No. 291 urging the Senate committee on labor to look into the effect of this new policy on direct-hiring issued by the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) on the competitiveness of Filipino labor especially at this time when Spain, Italy and Canada have opened up their labor market to the Philippines.

Memorandum Circular No. 4, which took effect last Jan.15, issued by POEA head Rosalinda Baldoz imposed stricter documentation and processing requirements including an approval from the Secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment for foreign employers who want to hire Filipino workers directly.

Villar said the requirements of a performance bond amounting to the workers’ three-month salary, a $5,000 repatriation bond and medical insurance, “could discourage foreign employers from hiring Filipinos.”
By: Bernadette E. Tamayo - Journal online

DoLE clarifies new direct hiring policy

By: Lee Ann P. Ducusin - People's Journal
THE Department of Labor and Employment yesterday clarified certain issues regarding the implementation of the new policy of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration on the direct hiring of overseas Filipino workers.

Labor Secretary Arturo Brion said some people who are against the policy are trying to sow confusion among OFW’s and foreign employers by giving false information about its implementing guidelines.

“There are some people who are spreading false implementation about the new policy’s implementing guidelines,” he said.

Brion clarified that contrary to what the critics say, employers will have to pay only the premium of the U.S.$5,000 repatriation bond and performance bond equivalent to three months salary of the worker.

He added the repatriation bond shall guarantee the actual cost of repatriation of remains of directly hired OFW following death from any cause, and actual cost incurred for repatriation from other causes such as violation or non-compliance with the contract among others. The performance bond shall guarantee compliance of the contract for its entire duration.

The bond shall be secured from any Philippine bonding company accredited by the Supreme Court. Premiums for the bonds shall be paid by the employer.

The labor chief added a foreign employer is also required to provide medical insurance to the worker at an amount equivalent to those provided to nationals of the host country.

“The adoption of these new requirements is aimed at strengthening the protection mechanisms for the OFW’s,” he said.

Brion said the new guidelines were issued to reinforce the provision of the Philippine Labor Code that prohibits the direct hiring of Filipino workers except for selected employers such as diplomats, heads of international organizations and other employers as may be approved by the Secretary of Labor and Employment.

“If this law is no longer a wise law, then the appropriate step is to secure an amendatory legislation. In the meanwhile, we have to apply the current law, adjusted by our rules to the extent allowable,” he explained.

Under the existing POEA rules, the general procedure for the recruitment and deployment of OFW’s is through POEA-licensed recruitment agencies. These agency-hired workers are protected under existing regulations such as bonding requirements for licensed recruitment agencies, which guarantees compliance to the terms of the employment contract, particularly relating to money claims of the workers.

In direct hiring, recruitment agencies are not involved and compliance to the contract is therefore dependent on the capability of the foreign employer.

However, the labor secretary said the DoLE is open to exemptions from the total implementation of the POEA guidelines (MC 4, S2007) on a per country, employer or workers classification based on the request of the Philippine Overseas Labor Offices.

Piecework workers entitled to 13th month pay -- DoLE

Piecework workers entitled to 13th month pay -- DoLE

MANILA, Philippines -- The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) reminded employers that workers paid on piecework basis, along with all the other rank and file employees, are entitled to the 13th month pay.

In a statement, DoLE Secretary Arturo Brion said Presidential Decree 851 mandates all employers to pay their rank and file workers the 13th month pay regardless of the nature the workers’ jobs and irrespective of the methods by which their wages are paid provided they worked for at least one month during a calendar year.

Brion said the law entitles all full-time rank and file workers, as well as those who are paid on piecework basis, or a fixed or guaranteed wage plus commission, to receive the 13th month pay.

Workers paid on piece-rate basis are those who are paid a standard amount for every piece or unit of work produced that is more or less regularly replicated without regard to the time spend in producing each piece or unit.

He added that employees working part-time in two or more firms are also entitled to the 13th month pay from each of their employers.

He said that the 13th month pay should not be less than one-twelfth (1/12) of the total basic salary earned by an employee in a calendar year whether he or she is paid on a full time, part-time, or piecework basis, or paid with fixed salary plus commission.

He also said that the benefit should be paid not later than December 24 of every year. An employer, however, may give his or her employees one-half of the 13th month pay before the opening of the regular school year and the remaining half on or before December 24 of every year.

Exempted from the 13th month pay are workers who are paid on purely commission, boundary, task basis, or pakyaw (wholesale), or those who are paid a fixed amount for performing specific work. Household helpers and persons in the personal service of another are also not entitled to the13th month pay.

Brion said giving 13th month pay to these workers depends upon the discretion of employers. He, nonetheless, enjoined employers of household helpers and those who provide them personal services to give these workers the 13th month benefit.

“These workers deserve benefits as they perform domestic chores and attend to the needs of our families at home, thereby, allowing us to attend to our jobs and businesses,” Brion said.
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