Employers buck more employees’ paid leaves

The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop) cautioned against the possible worsening of work productivity and the rise in the cost of doing business that would be brought about by a pending bill in Congress that sought to extend the yearly incentive leave.

In a position paper submitted to Congress, Ecop said business conditions might suffer if the number of work days would be reduced by House Bill (HB) 5067.

Introduced by Baguio City District Rep. Mark O. Go, the bill sought to amend the antiquated labor code, stretching the yearly incentive leave to 10 days from its current prescribed period of five days.

Ecop said this would be on top of existing policies that already provide paid leaves in specific circumstances such as paternal leave, as well as an already reduced number of working days. There are 15 regular holidays and special days in the country, under the Holiday Rationalization Act.

“While Ecop does not begrudge increasing the grant of service incentive leave, it is concerned that any further reduction in the number of working days particularly through additional paid leaves impacts not only on productivity but also on the cost of doing business and on the viability of micro and small enterprises,” the paper read.

While having its reservations, Ecop recommended the introduction of new amendments to the proposal, asking Congress to insert provisions that would exempt micro and small firms from complying to the 10-day rule.

Ecop wants this done through an implementing rules and regulations to be approved by Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre Bello III.

In the meantime, Ecop said it had no reservation over HB 5068, which was also introduced by Go, that would allow companies to adopt a “compressed” work schedule that would be shorter that the usual six working days.