TP's Violations of the Labor Code

[tongueswrath]

This is a lengthy post. I hope you guys find time to seriously analyze
the pertinent laws that have been violated and are continuing to be
violated. Following are the said provisions :

THE LABOR CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES (As amended)

Book III
CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

Title I
WORKING CONDITIONS
AND REST PERIODS

Chapter I
HOURS OF WORK

ART. 84. Hours worked. - Hours worked shall include (a) all time
during which an employee is required to be on duty or to be at a
prescribed workplace; and (b) all time during which an employee is
suffered or permitted to work.

Rest periods of short duration during working hours shall be counted
as hours worked.

***Failure of the agent to complete the required online staff time TO
THE LAST SECOND (as reported by the overly-rigid CCMS), due to reasons
falling under the direct and sole responsibility of TP-Edsa
Management, contravenes the tenor of this provision in law. The
inability to provide the agents with the sufficient number of
workstations, then using that self-inflicted defect to avoid paying
its employees their just compensation (forfeiture of Attendance Bonus)
is a violation of Art. 84 (a) under this law.

***It has also been frequently experienced by some teams lately that
due to these technical glitches, e.g. noisy signals, software crash,
lacking computer stations (or just missing headsets!) they were sent
home early, in the process, disqualifying them from the AB. Such acts
by the company is tantamount to circumvention of the standing
principle against the diminution of existing benefits and is
therefore, illegal. Jurisprudence has it that benefits regularly
enjoyed by employees continuously for a few years, (the shortest on
record is 3 years) can no longer be removed even if were discretionary
and within the exclusive prerogative of management at the time it was
first given. To date, these staff time deductions have not been
restored, thus the ABs have not been paid at all.

ART. 92. When employer may require work on a rest day. - The employer
may require his employees to work on any day:

(a) In case of actual or impending emergencies caused by serious
accident, fire, flood, typhoon, earthquake, epidemic or other disaster
or calamity to prevent loss of life and property, or imminent danger
to public safety;

(b) In cases of urgent work to be performed on the machinery,
equipment, or installation, to avoid serious loss which the employer
would otherwise suffer;

(c) In the event of abnormal pressure of work due to special
circumstances, where the employer cannot ordinarily be expected to
resort to other measures;

(d) To prevent loss or damage to perishable goods;

(e) Where the nature of the work requires continuous operations and
the stoppage of work may result in irreparable injury or loss to the
employer; and

(f) Under other circumstances analogous or similar to the foregoing as
determined by the Secretary of Labor and Employment.

***It has been normal practice in TP-Edsa to require Sprint CSRs to
render overtime work as if it were required, even if the agent has not
had a continuous 24-hour rest period (PD143 Sec. 1), again in
violation of law. Almost always, overtime work rendered do not fall in
any of the six prescribed reasons in Art. 92.

***Likewise, overlapping schedules in cases when agents were sent to
training during their rest days fall short of the 24-hour continuous
rest rule (PD 143 Sec. 1).

[P.D. 143 Section 1:
Weekly Rest Day. -- Every employer shall give his employees a rest
period of not less than twenty-four consecutive hours for each period
of seven days. The employer shall determine and schedule the weekly
rest day of his employees, subject to collective bargaining agreement
and to such rules and regulations as the Secretary of Labor may
prescribe; Provided, however, That the preference of an employee as to
his weekly rest day shall be respected by the employer if the same is
based on religious grounds.]

CHAPTER III
PAYMENT OF WAGES

ART. 103. Time of payment. - Wages shall be paid at least once every
two (2) weeks or twice a month at intervals not exceeding sixteen (16)
days. If on account of force majeure or circumstances beyond the
employer's control, payment of wages on or within the time herein
provided cannot be made, the employer shall pay the wages immediately
after such force majeure or circumstances have ceased. No employer
shall make payment with less frequency than once a month.

***Some CSRs now on "floating" status undergoing training in Octagon
complain that they have not yet received their salaries for the
previous cut-off period due to some flimsy reasons you would not
believe would come from TP-Edsa. Even Accounting and HR are
disgustingly clueless as to when this will finally be resolved. The
incompetence is just unbelievable.

TITLE III
WORKING CONDITIONS FOR
SPECIAL GROUPS OF EMPLOYEES

Chapter I
EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN

ART. 130. Nightwork prohibition. - No woman, regardless of age, shall
be employed or permitted or suffered to work, with or without
compensation:

(a) In any industrial undertaking or branch thereof between ten
o'clock at night and six o'clock in the morning of the following day;
or

(b) In any commercial or non-industrial undertaking or branch thereof,
other than agricultural, between midnight and six o'clock in the
morning of the following day; or

(c) In any agricultural undertaking at nighttime unless she is given a
period of rest of not less than nine (9) consecutive hours.

ART. 131. Exceptions. - The prohibitions prescribed by the preceding
Article shall not apply in any of the following cases:

(a) In cases of actual or impending emergencies caused by serious
accident, fire, flood, typhoon, earthquake, epidemic or other
disasters or calamity, to prevent loss of life or property, or in
cases of force majeure or imminent danger to public safety;

(b) In case of urgent work to be performed on machineries, equipment
or installation, to avoid serious loss which the employer would
otherwise suffer;

(c) Where the work is necessary to prevent serious loss of perishable
goods;

(d) Where the woman employee holds a responsible position of
managerial or technical nature, or where the woman employee has been
engaged to provide health and welfare services;

(e) Where the nature of the work requires the manual skill and
dexterity of women workers and the same cannot be performed with equal
efficiency by male workers;

(f) Where the women employees are immediate members of the family
operating the establishment or undertaking; and

(g) Under other analogous cases exempted by the Secretary of Labor and
Employment in appropriate regulations

***This is a clear provision against women doing graveyard work.
Unless this provision of law has already been repealed, widespread
practice across the whole industry does not make an illegal act legal.

BOOK SIX
POST EMPLOYMENT

Title I
TERMINATION OF EMPLOYMENT


ART. 279. Security of tenure. - In cases of regular employment, the
employer shall not terminate the services of an employee except for a
just cause or when authorized by this Title. An employee who is
unjustly dismissed from work shall be entitled to reinstatement
without loss of seniority rights and other privileges and to his full
backwages, inclusive of allowances, and to his other benefits or their
monetary equivalent computed from the time his compensation was
withheld from him up to the time of his actual reinstatement.

ART. 282. Termination by employer. - An employer may terminate an
employment for any of the following causes:

(a) Serious misconduct or willful disobedience by the employee of the
lawful orders of his employer or representative in connection with his
work;

(b) Gross and habitual neglect by the employee of his duties;

(c) Fraud or willful breach by the employee of the trust reposed in
him by his employer or duly authorized representative;

(d) Commission of a crime or offense by the employee against the
person of his employer or any immediate member of his family or his
duly authorized representatives; and

(e) Other causes analogous to the foregoing.

***The much-flawed metrics employed in the continuous evaluation of
agents' performances are not sufficient grounds to terminate any
regular employee, how much more a tenured veteran CSR. Employers had
ample time during the probationary period to evaluate an employee's
suitability to the job, beyond that, the only way to have the employee
removed is when he/she commits infractions or violations covered in
Art. 282. The law does not contemplate low scores in an amateurishly
erratic rating system such as that of TP-Edsa as one of the valid
causes.

-------------------------------------

The issues I have presented here are valid and therefore require
immediate attention by management. Prolonging the delay in resolving
these will not only result in the further deterioration of the agents'
motivation but will surely be reflected in the overall performance of
TP-Edsa itself. Worse, continued inaction may push the employees into
establishing a labor union.

We hope that it would not come to this but when our backs are against
the wall, the alternatives get fewer.

More power to TPWatchers!

God bless us all.