Solon seeks teachers’ overtime pay for work rendered during extended school year

In this photo taken on March 3, 2021, registered teachers wearing face masks and shields conduct teleconferencing sessions to help struggling students as part of a local government-sanctioned online tutorial initiative in Taguig City, suburban Manila. (Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP)

MANILA, Philippines — Teachers should be compensated for their overtime work for the extended working school year, ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. France Castro said Thursday.

According to Castro,  due to the amended school year, teachers were required to render 77 more working days than the mandated 220 school days in a school year.

“Our public school teachers would have been working for almost 13 months without an official summer break or vacation. Further, public school teachers do not have sick and vacation benefits unlike other employees in the public and private sectors,” Castro said in a statement.

“We demand that the Department of Education clarify the Proportional Vacation Pay (PVP) for School Year 2020-2021 and for the department to issue a memorandum for its implementation,” she added.

Further, Castro said the work-from-home arrangements and the eight-hour workday rule are not being followed by a majority of teachers.

“There is no actual academic ease for teachers due to the numerous paperwork and additional tasks that the modular approach requires from them,” Castro said.

Castro said that under Civil Service Commission (CSC) Memorandum Circular (MC) No 40, s. 1998 and as amended by CSC MC No. 9, s. 2012, public school teachers are entitled to PVP.

Service credit is likewise granted to teachers for days that they are required to work outside of their regular workdays, which they can use to offset their absences, said Castro.

“Teachers should be fairly compensated for the ‘lost leave benefits’ under the proportional vacation pay, with the current school year requiring them to work for thirteen months straight without a day of leave benefits, which the group deemed as ‘inhumane’ and violative of teachers’ labor rights,” Castro said.

Castro has written a letter to Education Secretary Leonor Briones regarding the matter but the lawmaker said the latter has yet to reply.

EDV