CSC told to address teachers' unreleased OT pay
A member of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, September 7, appealed to the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to act on the plea of public school teachers for compensation for their overtime work in the last school year.
At the House Committee on Appropriations' deliberations on the CSC's P1.896-billion proposed 2022 budget, ACT Teachers' Party List Representative France Casto inquired about the status of the overtime pay or service credit due for teachers.
Castro said the Department of Education (DepEd), in a recent meeting with CSC officials and teachers' groups, admitted that the teachers should be compensated for the excess hours they rendered within June 1, 2020 to July 10 of this year.
"Sa computation po ng mga teacher, 87 days po iyon (In the computation of the teachers, they worked an excess of 87 days)," the teachers' representative said.
In response, CSC Chairperson Alicia dela Rosa-Bala, said the issue on the payment of overtime pay "is still being resolved by DepEd with DBM."
"Because it would require funds for the purpose," Bala explained.
The CSC official noted that a DepEd memorandum also provides that "other benefits and privileges may be afforded to public school teachers during the period of COVID-19 pandemic as may be allowed by law."
"A review of the DepEd memo issued in the past years regarding the payment of PVP allows that the PVP earned for each school years averages to 79 days with an average of 285 actual days served," Bala noted.
"Looking at the school year 2020-2021, the PVP is 80 days, despite the fact that the number of actual days served was 389 days, which is 104 days more than the average in the past school years," she told the House panel.
Under the CSC Memorandum Circular No. 40, series of 1998, teachers are entitled to a" "proportional vacation pay" or PVP.
Castro previously noted that teachers are also entitled to service credits for work rendered outside of their regular workdays, which can be used to offset to absences.
This is why she complained about the DepEd's "unfair" computation, which supposedly reduces the benefits to be paid to teachers.
"'Yong PVP at overtime pay ay pinag-isa...Dapat po separate na bayaran sa mga teachers itong 80 to 100 days na sobra na pinagtrabaho ng teachers" she pointed out.
She asked the CSC to resolve the matter with the DepEd.
The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) gave the DepEd until October 5 to release their overtime pay, threatening to stage a synchronized "one-day absence" should the department fail to do so. They said the overtime should amount to P23,605.71.
The House appropriations panel has terminated its deliberation of the CSC's proposed 2022 budget.