Lawmaker pushes WFH setup amid heat

Camarines Sur 2nd District Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte Jr.

CAMARINES Sur 2nd District Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte Jr. urged the public and private sector to consider reverting to a work-from-home (WFH) setup whenever and wherever feasible to protect workers from the impact of extreme heat.

Villafuerte said that Republic Act (RA) 11165 or the Telecommuting Act of 2018, which he co-authored, “allows employers in the private sector to adopt WFH arrangements for their employees with the use of telecommunications and/or computer technologies, instead of having workers report to their respective offices on a daily basis.”

WFH arrangements are also allowed in government agencies for civil servants, he said, based on the Civil Service Commission (CSC) Memorandum Circular (MC) 6, dated June 6, 2022.

“With daytime temperatures feared by Pagasa (Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration) to get even hotter in the weeks ahead, possibly reaching what climatologists called the ‘extremely dangerous’ index of 52 degrees Celsius or higher, the heads of both government and private offices need to consider returning the WFH arrangements,” he said.

Villafuerte said senior citizens are among the high-risk workers who should be allowed to work at home amid extremely hot weather.

He said that RA 11165 states that “an employer in the private sector may offer a telecommuting program to its employees on a voluntary basis, and upon such terms and conditions as they mutually agreed upon, provided that such terms and conditions shall not be less than the minimum labor standards set by the law, and shall include compensable work hours, minimum number of work hours, overtime, rest days, and entitlement to leave benefits.”

The law has a provision mandating employers to ensure that telecommuting workers and workers at the office are given the same treatment.

Villafuerte said that under CSC MC 6-22 and its Feb. 21, 2024 advisory, there were three options for government offices: WFH, work from a satellite office near their residence, and work from another fixed place.