Floating Status and Forced Leave

Hi,
I just want to know the legalities of putting a tenured employee on floating status or asking him to go on leave without pay. Yung company po kasi namin now eh nilalagay ang mga employees on float status and some are being asked to go on leave without pay and some are also being asked to have a pay cut. reason po kasi ng management is nalulugi daw po kasi ang company so labor-saving device daw po yun. legal po ba na ilagay sa float status, forced leave or bawasan ang sweldo ng mga tenured employees? lahat po kasi ng mga employees na binigyan ng ganitong status ay regular employees na at matagal na sa kumpanya. di naman po sila nag-file ng bankruptcy sa DOLE. reason behind that is temporary retrenchment lang naman daw po ito so un iba pong employees nakafloat po at max by 6 months. i just want to know if all of these are just and legal and if not, ano pong pwedeng gawin ng mga affected employees? thanks po sa urgent reply.

what the labor code allows is a suspension of operations, but as to security guards, they have been allowed to go placed on floating status if there is no available assignment, but not more than 6 months.

to apply them on partial basis has not yet been made clear whether lawful.

paycuts without the employee's consent is unlawful diminution of wages.

attyLLL wrote:what the labor code allows is a suspension of operations, but as to security guards, they have been allowed to go placed on floating status if there is no available assignment, but not more than 6 months.

to apply them on partial basis has not yet been made clear whether lawful.

paycuts without the employee's consent is unlawful diminution of wages.

so there is no such thing as temporary retrenchment? if operational pa rin po ba yun company (callcenter/bpo by the way) nde po valid na i-float nya ang mga employees for reason na temporary retrenchment to prevent losses

when you say consent, considered po ba na lawful if pumayag si employee kasi kinausap ng management at sinabihang need magbawas sa sahod to save?

kung ang regular employee po ba eh gagawing consultant na lang at bigyan ng mas mababang sahod pero same pa rin ang workload, bawas lang sa workday for the reason na "labor-saving device", legal po ba yun? what does article 117 actually mean; mag-fall po ba yun dun?

yes, there can be temporary retrenchment but only as a result of suspension of operations. as to partial suspension, or floating status as applied to bpos, my position is that it is valid if there really is no account which they can be assigned to.

yes, if the employee agreed to it.

in that case, the employee was terminated.

i recommend you report these matters to the nearest DOLE regional office so they can inspect.

so its possible to put regular employees on consultant basis provided that the contract was terminated and new contract is issued for consultancy. but what if it's just for temporary period lang, let's say one month? iteterminate pa din po ba yun contract? the reason for putting the regular employees on consultancy status is labor-saving device. please take note that these regular employees are managerial employees.

btw, company is still operational but they placed some of the employees on float. granted its legal cause their accounts were pulled out. but how about those that are being asked to go on forced leave, legal din po ba yun? 2nd wave daw po ng labor-saving device is to put some employee on leave without pay and some on consultancy status instead. company can't pay separation pay if they terminate the contract so yan ang solution nila.

you can report this to the nearest dole office. hopefully they will come and inspect

Hi,

I am in a floating status for almost 6 months now.

I was a Supervisor in one of the accounts of a BPO company. I was told that I will be removed from the account due to resizing and I will be placed in a different account.

However, before I will be assigned to a new account, I will need to undergo the interview and examination process again. If I will not pass, then I will be endorsed to another account and then I will undergo another interview and examination again, unitl I pass everyhting. Just like applying for a new job.

That was the process that I have been undergoing for the last 5 months.

The last interview that I had was last January and until now, I haven't heard any news or updates from them.

Can I file a case against the company?

They are not paying me by the way, but they allowed me to use the VLs that I still had.
Please help me. I really need your advice.

Thanks.

if you want to be reinstated or receive separation pay, i recommend you write a courteous letter reminding the company that the 6 month period is almost over. they'll have to do something before the period is over else you can claim constructive dismissal

Hi Atty,

Good day, it seems to be the rule in floating an employee was a bit vague and its application were too loose to hold other companies away from abusing it.

generally, what are the only factors where an employer may apply the rule in floating an employee?

May an employer float an employee due to unsatisfactory performance or complaints from a client in the absence of transfer due to unavailable position?

Thanks.

it shouldn't be used as punishment.

Good day po Atty!

I just read this thread and I just also wanna ask regarding on floating status. Since our account(im working in a bpo/call ctr) will end by next year and we'll be on a floating status; in the event being on a FL (floating status)in 3months then the agent will be paid for the reduandancy pay. I wanna clarify if the Maternity Leave will still be counted in that 3months FL status.. also to chk if i'll be able to get the reduandancy pay. TIA! God Bless!

Can employees put in floating status go to NLRC and file case of illegal lay off?

imo, yes, but whether it will prosper will depend on the evidence presented

Hi Atty,

Good Day to you! I've been with this BPO company for 5months already but unfortunately acct was pulled out last September due to the security issues with the company. 80+ employee's we're all in floating status, some of them were transferred to different accounts, but they're also few unfortunate employee's that were still in floating status which includes me. We've been going back and forth with the company and being summoned for an interview and yet until now we still haven't received any feedbacks with regards to our applications. We've been compensated, yes but only if we had any VL/SL credits. Right now all of our SL/VL credits are all gone and consumed and yet we are still floating. Can we file any legal case with the company? They gave us a copy of the Retrenchment Letter and signed by the HR-Manager but the document wasn't sealed. Would that means that the Document is not legal or doesn't have any bearings at all? Please help.

chuchz wrote:Hi Atty,

Good Day to you! I've been with this BPO company for 5months already but unfortunately acct was pulled out last September due to the security issues with the company. 80+ employee's we're all in floating status, some of them were transferred to different accounts, but they're also few unfortunate employee's that were still in floating status which includes me. We've been going back and forth with the company and being summoned for an interview and yet until now we still haven't received any feedbacks with regards to our applications. We've been compensated, yes but only if we had any VL/SL credits. Right now all of our SL/VL credits are all gone and consumed and yet we are still floating. Can we file any legal case with the company? They gave us a copy of the Retrenchment Letter and signed by the HR-Manager but the document wasn't sealed. Would that means that the Document is not legal or doesn't have any bearings at all? Please help.

Floating status is acceptable (and legal) in the BPO setting as well.

As long as it has not yet been 6 months of float status it is still valid.

And the no-work no-pay policy applies.

So far you cannot file any case against them.

And if you've been given a retrenchment notice by HR then that's valid as well even without a seal.