CoA flags Albay on labor law issues

CoA flags Albay on labor law issues | Daily Tribune

The Commission on Audit (CoA) called out Albay province for having about 431 of its job order (JO) employees work with no rest days for two consecutive months.

The JOs, employed as Green Guardians Checkpoint Enforcers and Coordinators, had worked consecutive days with no days off from January to February 2023, incurring a total of 94 excess workdays equivalent to P10,864,800.

State auditors warned the Albay provincial government that this practice was in violation of the Philippine Labor Laws and the rules and regulations set forth by the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

Article 83 of the Labor Code of the Philippines mandates that the normal work hours of any employee shall not exceed eight hours a day, while Article 91 stipulates employees right to weekly rest days.

Under Article 91, employers, whether operating for profit or not, must provide each employee a rest period of not less than 24 hours after every six consecutive normal work days.

Meanwhile, CSC’s Memorandum Circular No. 06, s. 2022 adopting Policies on Flexible Work Arrangement in the Government issued on 6 June 2022 provides that any government employees, including JO personnel, shall render work from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on all days except Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays.

Audit findings further revealed that the JO personnel could not prepare their daily time records (DTRs) nor any certificates of service signed by their immediate supervisor to support the veracity of their claims.

The Green Guardians Checkpoint Enforcer man 40 checkpoints all over the province, 35 of which were said to operate 24/7.

Albay’s former officer-in-charge told auditors that the JOs were on a shifting schedule to ensure the checkpoints were manned uninterruptedly.

The audit team, however, did not buy his rationale due to a lack of necessary documents, including DTRs, shift schedules, and certificates of service presented to support such a claim.

A review of the time roll also contradicted the ex-OIC’s shifting schedule claim, given that most of the JO personnel have Sundays off and only an average of 25 personnel has been reflected to have reported to work for whole months with no rest days.

A random inspection by auditors also found that no JO or insufficient number of personnel are on duty or within the vicinity of checkpoint areas.

CoA said that had the Albay provincial government formulated a staffing pattern and work schedule arrangement for the Green Guardians Checkpoint Enforcers, it could have instead included in the job order contracts the number of hours and shift schedules of the JO personnel, which could have avoided the JO personnel to render excess hours or days of work.

“These practices may lead to a scenario where a legal action may be brought upon the Province for unfair labor practice,” it said.

The funds could also be allotted and utilized for the additional manpower hours, which cannot be validated and could have been programmed for other basic social and economic services that are more responsive to the constituents’ needs, according to CoA.