Congress ratified recently the Bicameral Conference Committee Report granting night shift differential pay to government employees and the doubling of said benefit for public health care workers, for work performed between 6:00 in the evening and 6:00 in the morning of the following day.
Senator Ramon Bong Revilla, Jr. Chairman of the Senate Committee on Civil Service, Government Reorganization and Professional Regulation, is the principal author and sponsor of Senate Bill 643 – “AN ACT GRANTING NIGHT SHIFT DIFFERENTIAL PAY TO GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES INCLUDING THOSE IN GOVERNMENT-OWNED OR CONTROLLED CORPORATIONS AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR.”
Government employees shall be paid a night shift differential at a rate not exceeding 20% of their hourly basic rate.
In the final version of the bill, government employees occupying position items from Division Chief and below, or their equivalent, including those in government-owned and controlled corporations, whether permanent, contractual, temporary or casual, shall be paid a night shift differential at a rate not exceeding twenty percent (20%) of the hourly basic rate of the employee.
The legislation effectively amends Republic Act No. 7305 or the Magna Carta of Public Health Workers which provides that public health workers are entitled to only 10% of their regular wage as night shift differential pay.
“I sincerely thank the House panel led by Rep. Eric Go Yap for acceding to the Senate version.”
“Umaasa po kami na sa pamamagitan ng batas na ito ay mabibigyan natin ng karampatang benepisyo ang ating mga lingkod bayan, kasama na ang mga public health care workers,” Revilla emphasized during his sponsorship of the bicameral conference committee report, which was later ratified in both Houses of the legislature.
“I sincerely thank the House panel led by Rep. Eric Go Yap for acceding to the Senate version and agreeing to our proposal of including medical frontliners from the public health care system as deserving recipients of this additional benefit,” the veteran legislator said.
Senate Bill 643 and House Bill 9458 intend to legislate the grant of night shift differential pay to government employees, similar to that granted to the workers in the private sector as provided under the Labor Code.
Moreover, they aim to institutionalize and make mandatory the grant of the said benefit as permitted under DBM Budget Circular No. 8, series of 1995.
Not covered by the measure are government employees whose work hours fall between 6:00 am and 6:00 pm and whose services rendered beyond the regular work hour schedules are paid overtime pay in accordance with existing laws, as well as those whose services are required, or are on call, 24 hours a day such as uniformed personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), Philippine National Police (PNP), Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), and other similarly situated as may be determined by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM).
