Bill proposes civil service eligibility for long-serving contract workers
A BILL granting civil service eligibility to contractual government employees who have been in service for three consecutive years has been filed at the House of Representatives.
House Bill 8620, or the proposed Automatic Civil Service Eligibility Act, intends to grant eligibility to contractual employees, provided service has been rendered for at least three years consecutively and at least five years, if non-consecutive.
Kabayan Rep. Ron P. Salo and Rep. Paul P. Hernandez, who wrote the bill, said the measure seeks to cover over 660,000 workers hired as contractuals or casual workers.
“With over 660,000 employees hired as contractuals, casuals or on job order status, it would appear that the biggest violator of this basic employee right to be regularized is the government itself,” they said in the bill’s explanatory note.
The Civil Service examination is a requirement for career public servants, and automatic civil service eligibility offers non-permanent workers a path to regular status.
Mr. Salo also said concerns about academic qualifications and required training hours may be further addressed in the implementing rules.
“The degree and training hour issues appear to be difficult to address because many of our casuals, contractuals and job orders may lack the same. However, these may be compensated for by their experience and actual performance of the functions of the position in which they shall be granted this privilege,” he said in a separate statement, issued on Thursday. — Charmaine A. Tadalan