With an overwhelming 203 votes, the House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill raising the yearly service incentive leave of employees from five to 10 days, to boost the workers’ morale, wellness, and productivity.
House Bill 6770, with Parañaque City Rep. Gus Tambunting as one of the bill’s authors, proposes to amend Article 95 of Presidential Decree 442, as amended, or the Labor Code of the Philippines.
The proposed amendment provides that every employee who has rendered at least one year of service shall be entitled to a yearly service incentive leave of 10 days.
The provision shall not apply to those who are already enjoying such benefit, those enjoying vacation leave with pay of at least 10 days, and those in establishments regularly employing less than 10 employees or in establishments exempted from granting this benefit by the Secretary of Labor and Employment after considering the viability or condition of such establishment.
Tambunting said paid leaves was beneficial to the employees and economically advantageous to the employers.
Tambunting said: “The granting of such incentive boosts the morale and satisfaction of employees which is manifested in their increased productivity.
“Leave credits also minimize the risks of health and safety issues among employees which may be even costlier for both employers and employees in the long run.”
The bill shall amend the present law as it does not provide a provision requiring employers to grant sick and vacation leaves.
These work incentives are given based on the prerogative of the employers, either by expressed stipulation on the employees’ contract or through collective bargaining agreement.
“What the Labor Code provides instead are service incentive leaves, according to the lawmaker. An employee who has rendered at least one year of service is entitled to a yearly service incentive leave of five days with pay. However, the same law provides that an employer who grants employees with a five-day vacation shall already be deemed compliant with the mandatory granting of the service incentive leave,” said Tambunting.
“With the increase in the number of leave credits in the form of sick or vacation leave credits left purely at the discretion of the employers, employees constrained by limited leave credits are left vulnerable to sickness, emergencies and other fortuitous events that would cost them a day of paid work,” he added.
The bill was sponsored on the plenary by Committee on Labor and Employment Chairman Randolph Ting of Cagayan.