ALTERNATIVE WORK ARRANGEMENTS
The COVID-19 pandemic has placed flexible work arrangements, especially telework, in focus. With many local government units declaring lockdowns and allowing only essential businesses to keep their physical locations open, unprepared employers are now forced to implement flexible work options on the fly.
Pre-pandemic, the Department of Labor and Employment (“DOLE”) has been encouraging employers and employees to explore other alternative work arrangements as one of the coping mechanisms and remedial measures in times of economic difficulties and national emergencies. Adoption of flexible work arrangements is considered as a better alternative than the outright termination of the services of the employees or the total closure of the establishment.
Under DOLE Advisory No. 02, Series of 2009, employers are permitted to implement alternative arrangements or schedules other than the standard work hours, workdays, and workweek during a period of economic difficulties. This includes, but is not limited to compressed workweek, reduction of workdays, rotation of workers, forced leave, broken-time schedule and flexi-holidays schedule.
In light of the outbreak of COVID-19 worldwide, DOLE issued Labor Advisory No. 09, Series of 2020 allowing employers to implement flexible work arrangements after consultation with their employees. Under this advisory, the following work arrangements may be considered:
1. Reduction of work hours and/or workdays, where the normal work hours or workdays per week are reduced;
2. Rotation of workers, where the employees are rotated or alternately provided work within the week; and
3. Forced leave, where the employees are required to go on leave for several days or weeks utilizing their leave credits, if there are any.
DOLE encourages businesses to adopt work-from-home
1. Transfer of employees to another branch or outlet of the same employer;
2. Assignment of employees to other function or position in the same or other branch or outlet of the same employer;
3. Reduction of normal workdays per day or week;
4. Job rotation alternately providing workers with work within the workweek or within the month;
5. Partial closure of establishment where some units or departments of the establishment are continued while other units or departments are closed; and
6. Other feasible work arrangements considering specific peculiarities of different business requirements.
These alternative work schemes are temporary in nature and may be adopted for as long as the public health crisis exists.
Department of Health (“DOH”) Administrative Order No. 2020-001
Likewise, these arrangements should be formulated in light of the Department of Health (“DOH”) Administrative Order No. 2020-001 (Guidelines on the Risk-Based Public Health Standards for COVID-19 Mitigation) issued on 27 April 2020, which consider alternative work arrangements as interventions to reduce contact between persons in the workplace and to reduce exposure of vulnerable individuals such as the elderlies an those with underlying health conditions, to prevent infection. The Guidelines limit the maximum number of people on site because physical distancing measures should be implemented in the workplace. Businesses should also comply with the rules on operational capacity and skeleton workforce.