Senate bills to double workers’ service leave
TWO senators have separately filed bills seeking to raise the service incentive leave to 10 days a year from five to improve workers’ performance.
The measures filed by Senators Francis N. Pangilinan and Ramon B. Revilla, Jr. will amend the Labor Code.
Under the law, the service incentive leave is not given to those already enjoying vacation leave with pay of at least five days a year. Companies with less than 10 employees are also exempted from giving a service leave.
Mr. Pangilinan said he filed the bill given a recent World Health Organization finding that recognized burnout as a medical condition.
“Employees may use these service incentive leaves to prevent burnout in the workplace,” he said in the bill’s explanatory note.
Workers who took 10 days or more of leave yearly had a 65.4% chance of receiving a raise or bonus within a three-year period, compared with a 34.6% chance for those who took fewer than 10 days, Mr. Pangilinan said, citing a United States Travel Association study.
Under his bill, employees may convert to cash only five of the 10 days of service incentive leave if unused by year-end.
Two similar House bills been filed and are now pending before the labor committee.
The previous Congress passed a similar bill but the Senate failed to pass a counterpart measure before sessions adjourned on June 3. — Charmaine A. Tadalan
