Classification and Salary Standardization Act

Policy, purpose, and covered government

Section 1 applies the Act to all officers and employees of the National Government that are embraced in the classified and unclassified civil service, subject to the enumerated exceptions.
Section 1 excludes elective officers and officers whose compensation is fixed in the Constitution.
Section 1 excludes officers chosen by the National Assembly, in accordance with the Constitution.
Section 1 excludes employees stationed outside the territorial limits of the Philippines.
Section 1 excludes specific officials and teaching staff of the University of the Philippines, including the president, deans of colleges, directors of schools, the registrar, the business director, and members of the teaching staff.
Section 1 excludes commissioned and enlisted members in the active service of the Philippine Army.
Section 1 excludes persons in the military, naval, or civil service of the United States who may be appointed or detailed to perform duties in the Government of the Commonwealth.
Section 1 excludes employees that may be declared by the President of the Philippines as primarily confidential or highly technical.

Core definitions and meanings

Section 2 defines “class” as a position or group of positions sufficiently similar in duties and responsibilities that the same education, experience, knowledge, and ability are demanded; the same tests of fitness are used; and the same rate of compensation applies with equity.
Section 2 requires that distinctions between classes be based on any essential difference in the nature, importance, difficulty, responsibility, or value of the work.
Section 2 defines “grade” as a horizontal division of a service with approximately the same level of compensation and comparable basic qualifications.
Section 2 defines “group” as a vertical division of a service embracing positions pertaining to the same line of profession, vocation, employment, occupation, or specialization.
Section 2 defines “compensation” as any salary, wage fee, allowance, or other emoluments accruing or paid to an employee occupying a position.
Section 2 defines “Board” as “The Salary Board.”

Classification framework and salary schedule

Section 3 provides that, except for special groups under Section 5, positions covered by the Act are classified into ten grades.
Section 3 sets the annual rates of compensation by grade, including the following grade figures (as stated in the Act):
- Grade 1: P5,100, P5,400, P6,000
- Grade 2: P3,960, P4,200, P4,500, P4,800
- Grade 3: P3,120, P3,300, P3,480, P3,720
- Grade 4: P2,400, P2,580, P2,760, P2,940
- Grade 5: P1,920, P2,040, P2,160, P2,280
- Grade 6: P1,440, P1,560, P1,680, P1,800
- Grade 7: P960, P1,080, P1,200, P1,320
- Grade 8: P720, P780, P840, P900
- Grade 9: P480, P540, P600, P660
- Grade 10: P360, P420
Section 3 states descriptive inclusions for each grade by duties, supervision level, latitude for independent judgment, and responsibility (e.g., Grade 1 covers head-of-large or very important unit work and exceptionally high-order specialized work; Grade 10 covers the simplest routine clerical/messenger/custodial tasks and unskilled manual labor).
Section 4 establishes the services and assigns grade counts within each service:
- Administrative Service: ten grades
- Professional and Scientific Service: eight grades (highest Grade 1, lowest Grade 8)
- Educational Service: nine grades (highest Grade 1, lowest Grade 9)
- Navigation Service: ten grades
- Vigilance Service: ten grades
- Subprofessional Service: seven grades (highest Grade 4, lowest Grade 10)
- Craft and Labor Service: seven grades (highest Grade 4, lowest Grade 10)

Service descriptions and special groups

Section 4 defines Administrative Service as groups performing administrative, fiscal, clerical work, or work commonly associated with office/business/fiscal administration, with ten grades.
Section 4 defines Professional and Scientific Service as work based on established principles of a profession or science requiring professional or scientific training equivalent to graduation from a recognized college or university; it has eight grades, from Grade 1 to Grade 8.
Section 4 defines Educational Service as work of giving or supervising regular and systematic instruction developing mental, physical, aesthetic, or vocational powers including manual skill; it has nine grades, from Grade 1 to Grade 9.
Section 4 defines Navigation Service as work related to operation, maintenance, and administration of airships, vessels, and other floating craft not part of Philippine Army equipment, plus property designed to aid navigation; it has ten grades.
Section 4 defines Vigilance Service as police or fire-protection work, guarding persons or property under government custody, preservation of law and order, and protection of life and property; it has ten grades.
Section 4 defines Subprofessional Service as incident/subordinate/preparatory work to professional and scientific service requiring professional/scientific/technical training of a degree inferior to recognized college/university graduation; it has seven grades, from Grade 4 to Grade 10.
Section 4 defines Craft and Labor Service as domestic/manual/mechanical work in execution of public works; manufacture and handling of supplies and equipment; repair of equipment; operation of mechanical equipment; transportation of personnel/property; caring for sick and persons in government custody or entitled to maintenance; and similar work; it has seven grades, from Grade 4 to Grade 10.
Section 5 provides that positions not subject to classification by the Board constitute special groups, including an Executive group and a Judicial group.
Section 5 sets the special-group annual compensation amounts for named positions in the Executive group (e.g., Department Secretaries, Secretary to the President, and Commissioner of the Budget at twelve thousand pesos per annum each; and other listed officials at their respective stated amounts, including the Proviso that the President may authorize additional compensation of not more than eighteen hundred pesos per annum each for specified Director/Commissioner roles when appropriation is available).
Section 5 sets the special-group annual compensation amounts for named positions in the Judicial group and includes salary rules for justices of the peace, with the Secretary of Justice—with approval of the President—fixing each justice of the peace salary within the stated limitations, considering case docketing, accessibility, and transportation.

Deduction, differentials, and compensation rules

Section 6 mandates that the Board determines the reasonable value of quarters, subsistence, laundry, domestic service, and other facilities furnished to employees, and that this value shall be deducted from compensation.
Section 6 prohibits deductions for:
- subsistence and rental of quarters of light keepers stationed in remote and isolated places, and marine officers, petty officers, and crews of vessels and launches on board vessels to which assigned;
- rental of quarters for barracks, outposts, guardhouses, prisons, hospitals, dormitories, and adjoining buildings and other similar structures for employees required by law or regulations to sleep/live there;
- laundry for employees of hospitals and similar institutions required by law or regulations to wear uniform, as the Board determines.
Section 6 provides an implementation limit: the deduction rules shall not be enforced in any bureau or office until the rates of salaries provided in the Act are in effect for that bureau/office under Section 10(d).
Section 7 authorizes compensation differentials in certain cases at rates fixed by the Board, subject to cumulative scheduling limits.
Section 7 provides that differentials under different schedules are cumulative but may not exceed in the aggregate twenty-five per centum of basic compensation.
Section 7 provides Differential Schedule A: employees in disease-infested places, isolation buildings or camps, or assigned to stations/clinics/laboratories with great dangers of contagion, or required to tend/care for mentally deranged patients receive a differential of not to exceed fifteen per centum of basic compensation, but the amount may not exceed two hundred forty pesos per annum.
Section 7 provides Differential Schedule B: employees in places subject to depredation by criminal elements without adequate police protection receive a differential of not to exceed fifteen per centum of basic compensation, capped at two hundred forty pesos per annum.
Section 7 provides Differential Schedule C: employees not in the Vigilance Service or Navigation Service assigned for a period of not less than three consecutive months to work earlier than six o’clock in the morning or later than eight o’clock in the evening receive a differential of not to exceed ten per centum of basic compensation, capped at two hundred forty pesos per annum.
Section 7 provides Differential Schedule D: employees required by law or regulations to wear uniform but not furnished with uniform by the Government receive a differential of not to exceed five per centum of basic compensation, capped at thirty pesos per annum.
Section 8 prohibits any employee from receiving compensation for personal benefit, directly or indirectly, in any form (including salary, per diem, fee, honorarium, gift, subsistence, or travel allowance) from private persons for any service rendered in an official capacity.
Section 14 requires that all original appointments be made at the minimum rate of the appropriate grade, except as otherwise provided in the Act.
Section 14 prohibits appointments to positions subject to the Act except at rates conforming to the prescribed rates, with the exception that for Grade 10, entrance salary may be fixed by the Board at the maximum rate.
Section 15 provides that temporary appointments made or authorized under existing laws are not made permanent by this Act.

Salary Board powers and operating rules

Section 9 creates the Salary Board consisting of the Commissioner of Civil Service as Chairman, with the Commissioner of the Budget and the Auditor General as members.
Section 10 authorizes the Board to establish, within the services, necessary groups with corresponding grades, and to designate:
- the titles of classes;
- the duties and responsibilities involved (illustrated by typical tasks where necessary); and
- the minimum qualifications required for satisfactory performance, conforming to the specifications in Sections three and four.
Section 10 permits the Board to lower or waive experiential requirements for any particular group below Grade 8 and graduate the experiential requirement for high grades within the same group if, in the Board’s opinion, the action is in the best interest of the public service.
Section 10 authorizes the Board to designate additional groups/grades as necessity arises, and to combine, divide, alter, or abolish existing groups or classes.
Section 10 directs the Board to establish procedures in fixing compensation rates for:
- positions filled by inmates, patients, students, beneficiaries of government institutions, or volunteer workers;
- laborer positions in public works; and laborer positions in emergency and seasonal positions with duties of purely temporary duration;
- positions filled by part-time employees or by special assignments; and
- positions paid on other than time basis.
Section 10 requires the Board to classify all positions existing on the Act’s effective date and all positions thereafter created based on statements submitted by Department Heads, by assigning responsibility/duties and minimum qualifications.
Section 10 requires the Board to fix the date initial allocations take effect in each bureau or office, which shall not be later than January first, nineteen hundred and forty, unless extended by the President of the Philippines.
Section 10 requires Department Heads to submit required statements to the Board at the time and in the manner and form prescribed by the Board.
Section 10 requires the Board to ascertain currently or periodically facts on duties and responsibilities within the scope of the Act and determine the class to allocate the position based on its findings.
Section 11 requires the President, upon Board recommendation, to designate and detail employees to assist the Salary Board.
Section 11 allows the President to appoint and fix the salary of an executive officer of the Board when necessary; the term of office may not exceed one year.
Section 12 requires compensation adjustment when the allocation of positions takes effect in a bureau or office:
- if an employee’s compensation is less than the minimum rate of the allocated grade, compensation is increased to the minimum rate;
- if compensation is within the grade range at one of the fixed rates, no change is made;
- if compensation is within the range but not at one of the fixed rates, compensation is increased to the next higher rate;
- if compensation is above the grade range, it shall not be reduced while the employee occupies the same position.
Section 13 permits the President to make available, at discretion, savings from appropriations in the General Appropriation Acts for years nineteen hundred thirty-eight and nineteen hundred thirty-nine not needed for other authorized purposes to cover compensation adjustments under the Act.

Allocation timing, payment restrictions, and budget

Section 16 prohibits salary payment: once initial classification and allocation takes effect in a bureau or office, no payment of salary is allowed to employees occupying positions in that bureau/office when those positions have not been properly classified and allocated by the Board as required by the Act.
Section 17 appropriates fifteen thousand pesos, or so much thereof as may be necessary, from any funds in the Philippine Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to cover salaries, wages, sundry expenses, and purchase of equipment for the Salary Board.

Prohibited compensation sources, repeals

Section 8 imposes a compensation-receipt prohibition covering any compensation for personal benefit from private persons for services rendered in an official capacity, in any form including allowances, travel allowance, subsistence, and honoraria.
Section 18 repeals: Act No. 2608, Sections 265, 266, and 966 of the Administrative Code, and Commonwealth Act No. 165.