<NEED ADVISE> BPO EMPLOYEE | Concern about Break Time and Rest Day and Leave

Hi Everyone,

Good Day!

Gusto ko lang po humingi ng advise about my Husband's Concern. Dati din po ako nagtatrabaho sa BPO na pinapasukan nya ngayon.

1st Concern : Break Time

Meron po kaming 50 minutes Lunch Break and 20 Minutes Short Break sa 8 hours na pagtatrabaho. Ang restroom break namin pahirapan pa. 2minutes ka palang sa restroom sinisigawan at pinapagalitan ka na. "Bakit ka naka RestRoom? bakit 2 minutes?!" - Kailangan mo pang i-explain ang sarili mo. Ang bago nilang patakaran ngayon ay KAPAG MAG RERESTROOM KA IBABAWAS YUN SA 20MINS BREAK MO. So lumalabas po na wala na talaga restroom break.

2nd Concern : Rest day

Meron po kaming Restday 2 beses  naman po sa Isang Linggo. Gusto ko lang po malaman kung allowed po ba talaga ang "SPLIT OFF" kung tawagin. Sinesend po sa TL namin weekly ang schedule, which always falls to split off. Once in a blue moon lang po na magkasunod ang Rest day. Hindi namin alam ang schedule Next week kasi hihintayin pa namin ang Email na ipapadala. In short po, Weekly sila nagpapadala ng schedule. I wonder po kung ito po ba ay naaayon sa batas. Hindi ka po makapagplano ng Social Activities mo ahead dahil hindi mo naman alam ang sched mo sa susunod na Week.

3rd Concern : Leave

Meron po kaming Leave Credits.Kapag regular na po entitled na daw na mag-leave. Pag magpapasa ka ng Leave request na dedeclined. Kailangan mo magpakita ng mga evidence bago maapprove. Katulad po ng Airplane Ticket, Bus Ticket, Hotel Booking etc. Paano po kung maglealeave ka dahil gusto mo lang sa bahay bonding with the family? parang suntok sa buwan na ma-approve.


Marami pa pong mga concern sa Company na ito.. Pero those 3 concern po kasi ang sobrang nagpapahirap. The fact na nagkakasakit na dahil sa ganitong sistema. Ang kapag aabsent because masama pakiramdam like LBM sasabihan na pumasok dapat kasi "LBM lang naman yan eh! Aabsent pa?! Pwede naman mag RestRoom" - samantalang kapag nagrestroom ka sisigawan ka pa kung bakit matagal and ibabawas na rin naman sa short break na 20mins.


Sana po ay makatulong. Kung meron po akong maling interpretasyon Ill be more than happy to be corrected. Im just seeking any advise po tungkol dito.Grabe na po kasi ang sakripisyo ng asawa ko kasi mahal nya po ang work nya.



Regards,

Anonyruth

Regarding break time, law state to give an employee 1 hour unpaid lunch break. if they give you that, they are in compliance. so they are just assigning your 20 minutes break to your bathroom break.

Regarding rest day, law states to give an employee at least 1 day rest day per week. so giving you a 2 days rest day per week, the company is in compliance.

Regarding leave, the law only state giving an employee 5 service incentive leave after / per year of service. if they are giving you more than 5 days, then they are in compliance. ibang usapan na sa pag-approve.

Hi, if I may further ask on sick and vacation leaves

As per understanding with the law, yes, the minimum is 5 days on sick leaves so whatever the company grants are extra benefits.

But before my sister accepted the job offer, as per contract they are entitled to 15 days vacation leaves.  If he knew that it will be that hard to use it meaning it can be withdrawn pala base on additional sign offs or new internal policies set AFTER she has accepted the offer and started service, then we could have not accepted the job.

As employees and party to that contract (job offer) , are they not allowed to cry foul ? or isnt that considered a diminution of benefits ?

They also have a similar concern under a BPO company.  As per contract, it clearly states they WILL be entitled to 15 days of sick leaves and vacation leaves per calendar year. But after going to work for 6 months, an internal policy was added that every time they use their sick leaves, the scheduled and approved vacation leaves for the next month are canceled.

The company's rationale was it is the company's way of controlling sick leaves usage and attendance.  So instead of becoming a benefit, our sick leave benefits has become a burden. Isn't this considered unfair practice or misrepresentation of benefits in our job offer ?

Apology if the above sounds negative. Please be assured that its not meant to be and the professional advices on how to deal with it are always appreciated.

Unfortunately, this is the long standing reality and abuse that BPO employees are subject to. And it's frustrating to note that in as much as the Philippine local economy benefits much from this industry, it seems that the laws in place are not enough to protect the employees from such circumventing practices.

As employees and party to that contract (job offer) , are they not allowed to cry foul ? or isnt that considered a diminution of benefits ?
- foul for what?
- what diminution? if the leave credit given to the employee is 15 days and was reduce to 14 days leave credit on the next year, then that is diminution. if it is still 15, but you need to comply with the policy on how to avail it, it is not a diminution.

"The company's rationale was it is the company's way of controlling sick leaves usage and attendance. Â So instead of becoming a benefit, our sick leave benefits has become a burden. Isn't this considered unfair practice or misrepresentation of benefits in our job offer ?"
-this "can" be considered unfair for the employees
-misrepresentation - NO

femme and anony, the problem stems from the very exact number of people they hire so they can be competitive in their offer to the client and maintain profit margins. there is very little allowance for anyone to be on leave.

what you can do is to file a complaint at dole, but it's not guaranteed what they will do. best if you can present evidence of stats comparing how many leaves they approved vs disapproved

thanks mikos23 and attyLLL for the suggestion

re DOLE -I've heard that future potential employers can avail of the service of checking if an employee ever filed a complaint thru them  against previous employers.   Is this true ?  

Coz this hurts the employeability of an applicant because other future employers wouldnt want to hire anyone who has filed a complaint against their ex employers  regardless of the merits of the case. About the stats, this is a good idea to present the unfairness but with the company (employer) controlling the stats, its almost close to impossible to expect they'll offer the data accurately.


re Mikos23's -this "can" be considered unfair for the employees. thanks for acknowledging this part.  Is there anywhere in our labor code that can directly pinpoint or qualify this practice as unfair.   DOLE is really something that we don't want to consider yet given the above possibility.

re DOLE -I've heard that future potential employers can avail of the service of checking if an employee ever filed a complaint thru them  against previous employers.  Is this true ?  wrote:

I think NLRC cases can be searched, I'm not sure about SENA cases.

re Mikos23's -this "can" be considered unfair for the employees. thanks for acknowledging this part. Â Is there anywhere in our labor code that can directly pinpoint or qualify this practice as unfair. Â DOLE is really something that we don't want to consider yet given the above possibility. wrote:

As far as I know, there is none.