Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Monday said that he is pushing for the increased adoption of remote working arrangements without having to lose the incentives provided by the government.
In a Balitanghali interview, Gatchalian said that one of the things he discovered during the COVID-19 pandemic is that employees could work from home (WFH) without having to suffer the metro traffic and look for parking spaces. This setup also allows for more quality of life or spending of time with family or loved ones, he added.
"Pero, nakita rin natin 'yung mga batas natin hindi sinusuportahan 'yung mga ganitong work from home kaya ang patakaran ng gobyerno ngayon ay bumalik sa mga opisina at magtrabaho muli physically. Kaya meron tayong proposal na amyendahan po 'yung batas natin para suportahan 'yung work from home na hindi po mawawala yung mga insentibo na ibinibigay ng ating pamahalaan," he said.
(We have seen that our laws do not support work from home, so the government's policy now is to have the employees go back to offices and work physically again. We have a proposal to amend our law to support work from home without losing the incentives provided by our government.)
Gatchalian earlier proposed to reduce employees' taxes by P25 for every hour of work done under a WFH setup to ease their financial burden.
This also included allowances or other benefits not exceeding P2,000 per month granted to employees to be legislated as a non-taxable benefit.
The lawmaker, however, pointed out that it is likewise important to balance the work setup and for employees to physically report to their respective offices. He said that this could be done for several days a week only, and not the usual five days.
"Binabalanse pa rin 'yan ng mga kumpanya kasi importante pa rin na magkaroon ng mga physical meetings. So tingin ko naman, sa mga nakikita kong international o global trend, pinapayagan 'yung work from home pero hindi ito 'yung araw-araw," Gatchalian added.
(Companies still need to balance that because it is still important to have physical meetings. I think, based on the international or global trends I see, work from home is allowed but it's not done daily.)
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) earlier said that employees in WFH arrangements should be given the same terms and conditions mandated by the labor standards in the country, based on the revised implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Telecommuting Act.
Under the Telecommuting Act, workers were given the option to report from an alternative workplace with the use of telecommuting or computer technologies.
The new rules define alternative workplaces as any location where work is performed at a location away from the principal's place of business of the employer through the use of telecommunication and/or technology.
This includes the employee's residence, co-working spaces, or other spaces which provide for mobile working, among others.
The revised rules also state that employees under the telecommuting option are not considered field personnel, except when their actual hours of work are not determinable within reasonable capacity. -- BM, GMA News
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