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Tuesday, December 07, 2004
Dole tells private firms to implement 5-day workweek
By Marie S. Neri
IN AN EFFORT to help minimize the expenses of minimum wage earners and their employers, the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) said private companies should implement a compressed work schedule for private sector workers.
Labor Undersecretary Benedicto Ernesto Bitonio said the move would be beneficial to both parties because employers would be able to cut costs while workers will be able to spend more time with their family.
Under the compressed work week, instead of working eight hours per day, employees in the private sector would be required to work 10 to 12 hours a week and employers need not give overtime pay to their workers.
"This would benefit both workers and employers because this would mean low transportation and turnover costs," Bitonio said.
"It's not compulsory so employers have the freedom to experiment on this if they want to use this, if it's more productive for them," Bitonio added.
Bitonio said the move to compress the workweek is not due to the financial crisis in the country but meant as an efficiency measure.
"In 1990, this type of method was adopted in response to the power crisis but this time, it's not crisis response but efficiency response," he said.
The Dole administrative policy exempts the following establishments: "those in the construction industry, in health services, in occupations requiring heavy manual labor or in occupations or workplaces in which workers are exposed to airborne contaminants, human carcinogens, substances, chemicals or noise that exceed the threshold limit values for an eight-hour workday as prescribed by existing Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC) standards".
The order also said "work rendered beyond eight hours will not be compensated by overtime premium provided that the total of work hours does not exceed 12 hours and work performed beyond 12 hours or beyond 48 hours per week shall be subjected to overtime premium."
(December 7, 2004 issue)
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