Press Release October 18, 2018 Villanueva's work-from-home bill only one step closer to becoming a law The Telecommuting Act of 2017 or more commonly known as "work-from-home" bill authored and sponsored by Senator Joel Villanueva is only one step closer to becoming a law as it awaits the President's signature following its bicam report ratification this month. The bill encourages employers to allow telecommuting or the partial or total substitution of computers or telecommunication technologies for the commute to work by employees. In the bicam report ratified by both Houses of Congress, telecommuting - a work arrangement that allows an employee in the private sector to work from an alternative workplace with the use of telecommunication and/or computer technologies - will remain as employers' prerogative based on a mutual agreement. Villanueva, chair of the Senate committee on labor, employment, and human resources development, noted that while a telecommuting program is voluntary or optional, it should not be less than the minimum labor standards set by law including that for health and safety of workers, schedule and workloads, work hours and social security. "We are confident that we have placed enough safeguards in this bill that will not only promote our workers' right to work-life balance and flexible work arrangement but also ensure that the rights of home-based workers are protected by giving them equal pay, leave benefits and promotion as their counterparts in the office," Villanueva said. Aside from promoting work-life balance, the senator noted that the bill also seeks to address traffic congestion and its tremendous effect on the country's economy. Once the bill is enacted into law, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is expected to come up with guidelines that will ensure the "fair treatment" provision of the measure such as the:
The proposed law also provides for the establishment of a telecommuting pilot program in select industries for a period of not more than three years to enable DOLE to determine the advantages and disadvantages of a telecommuting program in the Philippines. "We are now one step closer to our goal--to produce a cohesive and strong policy that affords our workers meaningful work-life balance and an option to work under a flexible work arrangement," Villanueva said. "Once this our work-from-home bill becomes a law, we can now have a stable and consistent legal framework that can provide an enabling environment to encourage participation and enforce compliance among enterprises, big or small," the senator further stressed. |
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