floating status in bpo industry

hi atty,

in th e event an employee will be placed into a so called "floating status" while the company is profiling us for another post, are we still gonna get paid? are we required to get are pay if we are on a floating status since we are regular employees?

I was placed on floating status verbally by a BPO company, I am a regular employee. Do I still get paid under the circumstances?

No. On the policy of "no work no pay". However, you should not be placed on a floating status for more than six months.

ganito po kasi yan...pwede po nilang gawin yun with a valid reason of course...
pero dapat hindi lalagpas ng six months ang pagkakafloating status mo..

lets say january 1, 2012 na-floating
hindi dapat lalagpas ng June 1, 2012 ang pagiging floating status mo..

bawal sa labor code yun..

btw lets wait for Atty. to reply with the best answer.

ang tanong po kung are regular employees who are placed on floating status eligiblle to demand for at least the basic salary?

hmmmm parang force leave po kasi ang ginawa sa inyo....eh may batas po na "no work, no pay" kaya lusot po sila

E pano po pag more than 6 months ka nang nasa floating status at hindi ka pa rin nalilipat ng ibang account?

kinausap ko na ang HR tungkol dito, sabi ko magreresign na lang ako at magfa-file ako ng case sa DOLE.

Sabi nya,wag na nating paabutin duon. Siya na lang ang mag-aasikaso. Just email him about it.

Ang gusto ko pong malaman, kung ang makukuha ko bang separation pay ay equivalent sa 6 months kong salary na naka-floating status ako. November 12, 2011 ako nag-start ng floating. Nakakuha rin ako ng 13th month nung December 2011 sa kanila.

Me makukuha pa rin ba akong 13th month bukod sa separation pay ko?

Thanks po!

racmad wrote:E pano po pag more than 6 months ka nang nasa floating status at hindi ka pa rin nalilipat ng ibang account?

kinausap ko na ang HR tungkol dito, sabi ko magreresign na lang ako at magfa-file ako ng case sa DOLE.

Sabi nya,wag na nating paabutin duon. Siya na lang ang mag-aasikaso. Just email him about it.

Ang gusto ko pong malaman, kung ang makukuha ko bang separation pay ay equivalent sa 6 months kong salary na naka-floating status ako. November 12, 2011 ako nag-start ng floating. Nakakuha rin ako ng 13th month nung December 2011 sa kanila.

Me makukuha pa rin ba akong 13th month bukod sa separation pay ko?

Thanks po!

Ung co-supervisor ko plaa, ganito din ang status nya..pero kailangan niyang kumita ng pera dahil pamilyadong tao siya kaya nag-apply sya sa ibang call center as as an agent lang habang inaantay niya ung status nya na maayos..me habol din po kaya siya pag nagfile siya sa DOLE?

if you start working in another company within the 6 mos, that will be deemed a resignation.

hindi po ba siya madedemanda ng previous company kung san xa naka-floating dahil dun? at may makukuha pa po ba sya na separation pay?

if they did, i doubt it will prosper, but he will no longer be entitled to separation pay.

panong "no work, no pay" ang floating status? i mean, if the company asked you to do something, that's considered work, right? In this case, inutusan kang mag antay. You are waiting on their behalf, and kahit pa there's no "productive" work to speak of, inutusan ka nilang mag antay, sinunod mo, you should get paid.

Hi macpjazz

“Floating status” is a stage wherein an outsourced staff is not currently doing work for any paying client but still under the active employ of the company. Since he is not doing work he is not entitle to get salary. However, an employee must be aware that he should not be placed on a floating status for more than six months.
The rule is settled, that "off-detailing" is not equivalent to dismissal, so long as such status does not continue beyond a reasonable time and that it is only when such a "floating status" lasts for more than six months that the employee may be considered to have been constructively dismissed.

Hi atty joyce,

Thanks for the reply. Just a thought, technically, when a person gets off-detailed, there is no "productive" work to speak off, however, the employees' services is still being "reserved" by the company. And since the person is still bound under the contract of the employer, he cannot apply for another job dahil conflict of interest naman? So isnt that reason enough for the employee to ask for at least some compensation from his employer? Kasi on a theoretical and not so legal perspective, an employees' compensation is not 100% from the actual work. bayad den ng company yung loyalty, yung level of professionalism, pagsunod sa company policies, etc. yung mga ganung aspect kumbaga. In off-detailing, manual labor is not present, but, figuratively, the mind is still working for the company, so there is still work.

Im concerned that companies, specifically BPOs who like playing on the ignorance of their employees on labor issue, will use this to get rid of employees without having to give them separation pay. In truth, mahirap ma pending kahit isang buwan lang ng walang trabaho, and naturally, an employee will start thinking about getting a new job by that time, which of course will result to a voluntary resignation, hence walang severance pay. I understand the part of the employers na kung wala talaga, wala. But isnt there a law that can compel the companies to at least give employees a choice of waiting indefinitely without pay, or to accept a severance pay nalang?

magandang araw po sa lahat!

ako ay isang regular na empleyado ng isang BPO at sa ngayon ay naka-floating status din. ikwento ko din ang nangyari sa akin.

pangalawang beses na itong nangyari sa akin na nilagay ako sa floating status. ung nakaraan ay noong 2010. sa company policy ay nakalagay na kapag 5 buwan kang nasa floating status, pwede na kausapin ang kumpanya para sa proseso ng separation. noong ika-5 na buwan ko, kinausap ko sila tungkol dun, sinabihan ako na ibabalik daw nila ako sa dati kong posisyon bilang kapalit dahil may nagresign. ang sinabi nilang date ay (nagkataong) 2 araw bago ang date of separation ko. noong nakabalik na ako sa trabaho, noon ko lang nalaman na mayroon silang ni-hire na isa pang tao bago ako ibinalik. 2 pala ang nagresign, hindi magkasabay -- ung isa naunang magresign 2 buwan bago nung isa. hindi ba dapat binalik muna nila ako (na mas tenured at naka-floating status pa) sa posisyon bago nag-promote ng isa pang empleyado na kapalit naman noong isa pang nagresign?

matapos ang halos isang taon ay naibalik na naman ako sa floating status noong march. nakaka-3 buwan na at di pa rin ako nahahanapan ng bagong posisyon.

sa tingin ko rin kasi, inaabuso nila ang "no work, no pay" policy dahil isipin nyo, 6 na buwan kang walang trabaho at walang sweldo. paano kung mangyari na naman ung paabutin na nila ng halos 6 buwan bago ibalik ang empleyado sa trabaho? walang nawawala sa kumpanya pag ganyan dahil walang naguudyok sa kanila na mabilis na hanapan ng posisyon ang mga empleyado nilang naka-floating. gumagawa sila ng paraan para hindi sila magbayad ng separation pay.

ang isa pang di ko maintindihan ay bakit may ibang kumpanya na nagbibigay pa rin ng sweldo sa mga empleyadong naka-floating. depende ba sa policy ng kumpanya un?

Hi macpjazz,

Unfortunately, that is our prevailing law with regard to the “floating status” of an employee.

More often than not, in BPO industry, there are many employees whose situation is on “floating status” because of the nature of their business, they rely on the account or project of a certain client/customer. Once the client pulls out the account or if the project is already finished, the employee should wait for another assignment or project.

An employee must also read his contract of employment before signing the same in order for him to know his rights and obligations. There are BPO companies whose employment contracts discuss the provision on floating status.

hi atty joice,

thank you so much sa answers, nakakalungkot naman. last question na po tungkol sa floating status, entitled pa rin ba ang empleyado sa mga non-monetary benefits? ex. SSS contribution ng employer, health care, etc. Also, dun sa prorated benefits like 13th month pay, pano ang computation?

Hi macpjazz,

If you were placed under the so-called “floating status” you are still an employee of the company, so even if you do not receive your basic salary, you are still entitled to your SSS, health care, rice and clothes allowance, etc.

question:

kung nakalagay sa letter regarding sa floating status na hindi pwedeng tanggihan ng employee un mga job offers na binibigay sa kanya dahil pag tumanggi siya hindi siya makakakuha ng separation pay, pwede bang magsabi sa kumpanya na tatanggap lang siya ng job offers kapag hindi galing sa pinanggalingan nyang account? makakaapekto ba un sa pinirmahan na document?

salamat po!

hello po.

until now wala pa rin result ang redundancy ko. nagfile na ko ng resignation and sabi nasa accounting na daw ung clearance ko. pero ung issue tungkol sa redundancy ko, di kasama dun sa computation ng separation pay, as per accounting, dahil wala daw silang narereceie na email from hr.

Nang inemail ko ang hr, sabi nung attorney dun, still on process pa daw pero more than 2months na la pa ring result.parang pinapatagal nila para maglapse ng 1 year. november 12 ako na-floating status. more than 7 months. should i file a case now or still give them time to work it out?

attyjoyce wrote:Hi macpjazz,

If you were placed under the so-called “floating status” you are still an employee of the company, so even if you do not receive your basic salary, you are still entitled to your SSS, health care, rice and clothes allowance, etc.

good day po

what part of the labor code is this provision, I dont think my company knows this and we would like to point this out.

we are also on this "FLOATING CASINO" status and it really sucks

hi atty!

Good day, I hope you can give me an immediate response on this becuase time is running out on us!hehehe

we aare paid by the hour here in our office (a bpo) and last august we were placed on FLOATING STATUS. now, they are calculating our 13th month pay by the actual days we have worked which does not incluse the days we were placed on floating status...is that right? or is there any provision in the labor code that can help us that the days we were placed on floating status included on the computation? hope you can provide me with that so I can show it to my superiors

thanks and more power!

i think that is correct, you are not paid when they put you on floating status. So that's not included in the computation of 13th month pay.

moonwind wrote:or is there any provision in the labor code that can help us that the days we were placed on floating status included on the computation? hope you can provide me with that so I can show it to my superiors

thanks and more power!

unfortunately, the 13th month pay law is clear on this.

The 13th month pay shall be in the amount not less than 1/12 of the total basic salary earned by the employee within the calendar year.

As some days (wherein you were on float status) were unpaid, therefore nothing was earned, thus excluded.

what if before 6 months, you requested the employee who is on floating status to come back to work, and you did not receive any reply from the employee?

what actions can the company do?