Solon seeks to increase Night Differential of BPO employees to 25%

Congressman Zajid Mangudadatu, the current Representative of the 2nd District of Maguindanao and former Mayor of the town of Pandag, has recently filed the House Bill 4414 which aims to increase the current night shift differential pay of BPO employees from 10% to 25%.

As mandated by the Department of Labor and Employment under Article 86 of the Philippine Labor Code, “every employee shall be paid a night shift differential of not less than ten percent (10%) of his regular wage for each hour of work performed between 10PM and 6AM”.

However, Congressman Mangudadatu believes that the 10-percent increase in pay is not enough to compensate for the amount of stress that BPO employees undergo on a regular basis, not to mention the health hazard that they are exposed to by working in night shifts.

“BPO employees are often exposed to stress because they take calls of agitated or angry customers. They likewise make calls to customers of their companies for purposes of addressing concerns, making sales or other matters that require a lot of activity, resulting in undue stress. In addition, most BPOs operate during the night and this adds to the employees’ exposure to health hazard,”

Cong. Zajid Mangudadatu, 2nd District of Maguindanao

The solon also stated that the proposed additional night differential pay should not affect any additional benefits, both monetary and non-monetary, that a BPO employee is getting from their current company.

If passed, the House Bill 4414 will not only increase the graveyard shift pay by 15%, it will also penalize BPO companies who will not comply to it. This involves a fine of not less than Php250,000USD 4,260INR 361,150EUR 4,058CNY 31,025 and a suspension of their business permit for not less than 30 days.

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