4-day workweek in SC, CA, CTA, Sandiganbayan starting March 28 (Sabong News)

Starting Monday, March 28, it will be a four-day workweek in the Supreme Court (SC), Court of Appeals (CA), Sandiganbayan, and Court of Tax Appeals (CTA). At the SC, CA (in all its stations in Manila, Cebu City, and Cagayan de Oro City), and CTA, the total workforce will be divided into two groups. The first group will report onsite from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. from Monday to Thursday, and the second group will work from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. from Tuesday to Friday. At the Sandiganbayan, chiefs of offices would determine who among their personnel would have a one day off within the week. All personnel who will report onsite would have to work from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The Office of the Court Administrator (OCA), which supervises for the SC all trial courts in the country, has yet to issue its circular on a four-day workweek if ever the work scheme will be adopted starting March 28 in the regional trial courts (RTCs), municipal trial courts (MTCs), municipal circuit trial courts (MCTCs), metropolitan trial courts (MeTCs), municipal trial courts in cities (MTCCs), and the Shari’ah courts. In adopting a four-day workweek, Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo said the SC, as a full court, took into consideration “the adverse effect created by the series of oil price increases….” Gesmundo said the SC Employees Association, in a letter dated last March 21, requested the implementation of a four-day workweek. Certain offices in the SC — like the security and maintenance division, medical and dental service, Office of the Bar Confidant, Fiscal Management and Budget Office, Fiscal Management Office of OCA, and Office of Administrative Services of OCA – are not covered by the four-day workweek and their personnel have to report onsite from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday. SC justices will determine “the number and schedule of their staff who will be required to report for work onsite in their respective chambers,’ Gesmundo’s memorandum order stated. “Chiefs of Offices/Services and their assistants shall determine who among them and among their personnel/staff will be included in each group, which may be on a rotation basis,” the memorandum also stated. The office order issued by CA Presiding Justice Remedios A. Salazar Fernando stated that “chiefs of offices/divisions must be in separate groups from their assistants to maintain senior management presence in all offices/divisions five days a week, and they must remain on-call at all times.” The CA’s One-Stop Processing Center will continue to operate from Monday to Friday, and the filing of pleadings and other documents will be entertained from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. At the Sandiganbayan, the order issued by Presiding Justice Amparo M. Cabotaje Tang stated that “chiefs of offices/divisions and their assistants must ensure that at least one of them is present every day to maintain senior management presence in their office/division five days a week.” CTA Presiding Justice Roman G. Del Rosario said in his memorandum that justices “are given the discretion to adopt a four-day workweek scheme and to determine the number and schedule of their staff in their respective offices.” “The filing and processing of pleadings and other court submissions shall be entertained from Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.,” Del Rosario also said. The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) had proposed the four-day workweek of 10 hours per day to conserve energy due to increasing fuel costs, instead of the five-day workweek of eight hours daily. The Civil Service Commission (CSC), on the other hand, suggested a combination of four-day workweek and work-from-home arrangement.