Congress ratifies bill granting night shift differential pay to gov’t workers

The Senate and the House of Representatives have ratified the bill granting night shift differential pay to government workers, including those who are with government-owned and -controlled corporations (GOCCs).

Under the reconciled version of Senate Bill 643 and House Bill 9458, state workers occupying positions from division chief and below, including those in the GOCCs, regardless of their nature of employment, shall be paid night shift differential at a rate not exceeding 20% of the hourly basic rate of the employee for each hour of work done between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. the next day.

The night shift differential pay will be on top of the benefits and allowances that are granted to the government employees.

Government employees who will be exempted from the coverage of this proposed law are:

• Those whose schedule of office hours fall between 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. as services rendered beyond the regular eight-hour work schedules are considered overtime in accordance with existing laws, rules and regulations.
• Those whose services are required, or are on call, 24 hours a day such as uniformed personnel such as the military, policemen, personnel from the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Bureau of Fire Protection, and other similarly situated as may be determined by the Civil Service Commission and the Department of Budget and Management.

The CSC and the DBM will be mandated to promulgate the necessary rules and regulations for the implementation of this proposed measure. — Hana Bordey/RSJ, GMA News