Bill preventing ‘unli-work from home’ proposed in Senate
A bill that prevents unlimited workloads for remote employees and penalizes companies that intrude on their workers’ “rest hours” was filed by Sen. Francis Tolentino.
In the explanatory note, Tolentino said that remote working made employees “virtually always at the beck and call of their employers” even beyond official work hours.
The proposed Senate Bill No. 2475 aims to protect employees from overtime work that is not compliant with the labor code.
During an employees’ rest hours or unless the employee consents, employers are not allowed to require them to work, travel, or perform any work-related activities.
Additionally, companies are not allowed to contact their workers unless there is an emergency or penalize them for not answering communications after their shifts.
If passed into law, the bill will cover employees in “all establishments and undertakings whether for profit or not” except for field personnel, domestic helpers, output-based workers, and those in the personal service of another.
Violators of the “Workers Rest Law” will be required to pay their employees P1,000 (US$19.44) each per hour of work rendered during the prescribed rest hours.
Further, employers who will discriminate against their staff who choose to assert their rights will be imprisoned for one to six months and will pay a fine of over P100,000 (US$1,944).
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