Policy on Undertime

August 19, 2010 BLGF MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 010-10 TO : All BLGF Officials and Employees, Regional Directors for Local Government Finance, District Treasurers of Metropolitan Manila; Provincial, City and Municipal Treasurers and Others Concerned SUBJECT : Policy on Undertime For the information and guidance of all concerned, quoted below is the full text of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) Memorandum Circular No. 16, s. 2010 dated August 6, 2010 on the above subject matter, to wit: "Pursuant to CSC Resolution No. 10-1357 * dated July 6, 2010, the Commission resolves that undertime is not classified as tardiness. However, due to the inimical effect of undertime to public service, which cannot be countenanced, the following guidelines on Undertime is hereby promulgated as follows: "1. Any officer or employee who incurs undertime, regardless of the number of minutes/hours, ten (10) times a month for at least two months in a semester shall be liable for Simple Misconduct and/or Conduct Prejudicial to the Best Interest of the Service, as the case may be; and "2. Any officer or employee who incurs undertime, regardless of the number of minutes/hours, ten (10) times a month for at least two (2) consecutive months during the year shall be liable for Simple Misconduct and/or Conduct Prejudicial to the Best Interest of the Service, as the case may be." The Regional Directors of this Bureau are hereby instructed to disseminate the contents of this Circular to all Provincial, City and Municipal Treasurers within their respective jurisdiction, likewise enjoining them to observe and comply with the provisions thereof. HSDaTC Be guided accordingly. (SGD.) MA. PRESENTACION R. MONTESA, CESO III Executive Director ATTACHMENT Republic of the Philippines Civil Service Commission Constitution Hills, Batasang Pambansa Complex, Diliman 1126 Quezon City August 6, 2010 CSC MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 016-10 TO : All Heads of Departments, Bureaus, Offices and Agencies of the National and Local Governments, Including State Universities and Colleges and Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations with Original Charter SUBJECT : Policy on Undertime Pursuant to CSC Resolution No. 10-1357 * dated July 6, 2010, the Commission resolves that undertime is not classified as tardiness. However, due to the inimical effect of undertime to public service, which cannot be countenanced, the following guidelines on Undertime is hereby promulgated, as follows: 1. Any officer or employee who incurs undertime, regardless of the number of minutes/hours, ten (10) times a month for at least two months in a semester shall be liable for Simple Misconduct and/or Conduct Prejudicial to the Best Interest of the Service, as the case may be; and 2. Any officer or employee who incurs undertime, regardless of the number of minutes/hours, ten (10) times a month for at least two (2) consecutive months during the year shall be liable for Simple Misconduct and/or Conduct Prejudicial to the Best Interest of the Service, as the case may be. (SGD.) FRANCISCO T. DUQUE III, MD, MSc Chairman CSC RESOLUTION NO. 101357 RE : Policy on Undertime WHEREAS, Section 1, Article XI of the 1987 Constitution, states that "Public officers and employees must at all times be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency, act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives"; ESTDIA WHEREAS, part of such accountability, responsibility and efficiency of public officers and employees is the observance of the prescribed eight-hour work schedule in a given working day or 40-hour work per week; WHEREAS, by incurring undertime, an officer or employee fails to observe the prescribed eight-hour work in a day; WHEREAS, in the case of Yadao-Guno, Carmelita P. (CSC Resolution No. 00-0970 dated April 7, 2000) , the Commission defined undertime as "working time that is less than the full time or the required minimum. This is usually incurred by an officer or employee who leaves or quits from work earlier than the usual eight-hour work schedule in a given working day"; WHEREAS, undertime is not considered as an administrative offense; WHEREAS, it is the present practice to classify undertime as tardiness, thus, penalized under the offense of Habitual Tardiness; WHEREAS, in the case of Caballes, Zenaida Z. (CSC Resolution No. 08-1198 dated June 23, 2008), citing the case of Yadao-Guno, Carmelita P., the Commission ruled that respondent is not liable for Habitual Tardiness because the "number of undertime that the respondent incurred cannot be classified as tardiness "; WHEREAS, while undertime is not classified as tardiness and is not considered as an administrative offense, there is a need to set the limit as to the number of times an officer or employee is allowed to go on undertime; WHEREAS, undertime for more than that allowed shall be considered as falling under the administrative offenses of Simple Misconduct and/or Conduct Prejudicial to the Best Interest of the Service; NOW, THEREFORE, the Civil Service Commission, as the central human resource institution of the government, resolves to promulgate the following guidelines on Undertime, as follows: 1. Any officer or employee who incurs undertime, regardless of the number of minutes/hours, ten (10) times a month for at least two months in a semester shall be liable for Simple Misconduct and/or Conduct Prejudicial to the Best Interest of the Service, as the case may be; and 2. Any officer or employee who incurs undertime, regardless of the number of minutes/hours, ten (10) times a month for at least two (2) consecutive months during the year shall be liable for Simple Misconduct and/or Conduct Prejudicial to the Best Interest of the Service, as the case may be. RESOLVED FURTHER that these guidelines shall be prospective in application and shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in a newspaper of general circulation. TAECSD Quezon City, July 6, 2010. (SGD.) FRANCISCO T. DUQUE III Chairman (SGD.) CESAR D. BUENAFLOR Commissioner (SGD.) MARY ANN Z. FERNANDEZ-MENDOZA Commissioner Attested by: (SGD.) DOLORES B. BONIFACIO Director IV Commission Secretariat and Liaison Office Footnotes *. CSC Res. No. 10-1357 was published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on July 28, 2010.