House bill seeks to prohibit employers from messaging you after work hours
Calamba City Rep. Joaquin Chipeco Jr. has filed a bill in the House of Representatives prohibiting employers from contacting their employees or requiring them to work during their rest hours.
House Bill No. 10717, titled the "Workers' Rest Law," was created to "protect the rights of workers to privacy and personal time, and promote their welfare."
"Studies have shown that under the "new normal," many workers, particularly those who are on a work-from-home arrangement basis, end up rendering work beyond the maximum hours of work provided under the law," Chipeco wrote in the bill's explanatory note.
"This emerging trend does not augur well for the mental health of employees, not to mention family solidarity, he continued.
The Labor Code of the Philippines indicates that the normal work hours of an employee should not exceed eight hours a day.
Unless given consent by the employee, employers, managers, and supervisors won't be allowed to do the following after work hours:
- require an employee to work
- require an employee to be on duty, travel, or attend work or work-related activities
- contact, message, email, or call an employee for work-related purposes
According to the measure, violators will pay P1,000 to the employee per hour of work rendered.
This bill will cover employees in all establishments except for field personnel, domestic helpers, persons in personal service of another, and workers paid by results.
A similar bill has been filed to the Senate by Sen. Francis Tolentino as work-from-home and telecommuting arrangements have "thinned the line between work and personal space and time."