The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has affirmed the practicality of the work from home (WFH) arrangement under the Covid-19 pandemic after it issued an order that ensures protection of employees working under the work scheme.
Based on the Department Order 237, signed by Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma, employees working under WFH scheme should not be treated as second-class employees of the companies as it argued that work that is performed in the the house or any alternative working place of an employee should be considered as work done in the regular work place.
The same order defines "alternative workplace" as any location where work, through the use of telecommunication and/or technology, is performed at a location away from the principal’s place of business of the employer, including but not limited to the employee’s residence, co-working spaces or other spaces that allow for mobile working.
"Regular workplace", on the other hand, means the principal place of business or any branch office or physical premises established or provided by the employer where employees regularly report to or perform work.
"Under the revised rules, telecommuting employees are not considered field personnel except when their actual hours of work cannot be determined with reasonable certainty," the Department order read.
“All time that an employee is required to be on duty, and all time that an employee is permitted or suffered to work in the alternative workplace shall be counted as hours worked,” it added.
DOLE Sec. Bienvenido Laguesma said the Department Order actually contained the revised implementing rules and regulations of the Republic Act 11165, or the Telecommuting Law.
The Telecommuting Law which was crafted even before the Covid-19 pandemic is heard and was signed in December 2019 by former President Duterte and was seen as one of the solutions in the worsening traffic condition in Metro Manila and other urban areas.
Three months after it was signed, the concept behind the law was adopted due to series of lockdowns that started in March 2020 when the Covid-19 infection starts to spread in the country.
But under the Telecommuting Law, it should voluntary and based on the mutual agreement of the employees and employers.
Laguesma said the revised IRR of the law was the result of almost two months of consultations with concerned sectors. It also passed scrutiny and had inputs from members of the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council – a consultative body presided by the labor secretary and composed of labor and employer representatives.
“These revised rules clarify and adequately address issues and concerns of the telecomuting sector,” Laguesma said.
Emphasizing the voluntary nature of the alternative work arrangement, the labor chief echoed the call for employers and employees to “jointly adopt and implement telecommuting programs that are based on voluntariness and mutual consent.”
“This aims to sustain our efforts for economic recovery,” he said.
The new rules stress that “the terms and conditions of telecommuting shall not be less than minimum labor standards, and shall not in any way diminish or impair the terms and conditions of employment contained in any applicable company policy or practice, individual contract, or collective bargaining agreement.”