DOLE Guidelines on Compressed Workweek Schemes

The advisory guides employers and workers on how to adopt mutually acceptable compressed workweek (CWW) schemes that fit the firm’s needs.
DOLE encourages CWW schemes to support business competitiveness and productivity, including improved efficiency through lower operating costs and reduced employee work-related expenses.
DOLE encourages CWW schemes to give employers and workers flexibility in fixing hours of work compatible with business requirements and employees’ need for a balanced work life.
DOLE requires CWW adoption to ensure safety and health of employees at the workplace at all times.
For purposes of administering and enforcing existing work-hour, overtime compensation, and other relevant labor standards, DOLE recognizes only CWW schemes adopted consistent with this advisory.

CWW schemes may be used in all establishments except those in the construction industry, health services, occupations requiring heavy manual labor, and occupations/workplaces where workers are exposed to airborne contaminants, human carcinogens, substances, chemicals, or noise that exceed threshold limit values or tolerance levels for an eight-hour workday under existing Occupational Safety and Health Standards (OSHS).
The advisory limits recognition/enforcement to CWW schemes that meet its conditions for voluntariness and occupational safety and health certification where exposure hazards apply.

The Labor Code provides that normal work hours are eight hours per day and that work beyond eight hours is compensable as overtime.
The Labor Code provides that the normal number of workdays per week is six days, totaling forty-eight (48) hours based on an eight-hour workday, without prejudice to firms with a normal workweek of five days totaling forty (40) hours.
For this advisory, a CWW scheme is an alternative arrangement where the normal workweek is reduced to less than six days while maintaining total normal work hours per week at 48 hours.
Under CWW, the normal workday is increased to more than eight hours without corresponding overtime premium, subject to the advisory’s conditions and limits.
The concept may be adjusted accordingly for cases where the firm’s normal workweek is five days.

A CWW scheme must be adopted through an express and voluntary agreement of the majority of covered employees or their duly authorized representatives.
The voluntary agreement may be expressed through collective bargaining or other legitimate workplace participation mechanisms such as labor-management councils, employee assemblies, or referenda.
Where the workplace uses substances, chemicals and processes or operates under conditions with airborne contaminants, human carcinogens, or noise prolonged exposure that may pose hazards, work beyond eight hours requires a certification from an accredited health and safety organization or practitioner or from the firm’s safety committee.
The required certification must state that work beyond eight hours is within threshold limits or tolerable levels of exposure as set in the OSHS.
The employer must notify DOLE through the Regional Office having jurisdiction over the workplace of the adoption of the CWW scheme, using the DOLE CWW Report Form attached to the advisory.

A compliant CWW scheme provides that, unless there is a more favorable practice existing in the firm, work beyond eight hours is not compensable by overtime premium provided the total hours worked per day do not exceed twelve (12) hours.
Any work performed beyond twelve (12) hours a day or beyond 48 hours a week is subject to overtime premium.
Employees under a CWW scheme are entitled to meal periods of not less than sixty (60) minutes, consistent with Article 85 of the Labor Code.
The advisory does not impair employees’ rights to rest days, holiday pay, rest day pay, or leaves in accordance with law, applicable collective bargaining agreement, or company practice.
Adoption of the CWW scheme must not result in diminution of existing benefits.
Reversion to the normal eight-hour workday must not be treated as diminution of benefits and is a legitimate exercise of management prerogative, but the employer must give prior notice of such reversion within a reasonable period of time.

The parties to the CWW scheme are primarily responsible for administering it.
Differences of interpretation must be handled as grievances under the firm’s applicable grievance mechanism.
If no grievance mechanism exists, or if it is inadequate, the grievance is referred to the Regional Office, which conducts a training and assistance visit (TAV) pursuant to Section 3 of Department Order No. 57-04.
The purpose of the TAV is to ascertain, in the most practical and least litigious way possible, whether the scheme results from a voluntary agreement or is supported by the required safety and health certification.
Where appropriate, the TAV may include a referendum and/or work environment measurement (WEM) to determine actual work conditions.
Employers must keep and maintain, as part of their records, documentary proof showing the CWW was voluntarily adopted and proof of the safety and health certification consistent with the OSHS.
In the absence of proof of voluntary agreement or safety and health certification, the employer must pay the concerned employees any overtime pay that may be owing, as if the CWW scheme did not exist.
If it turns out that work beyond eight hours is not consistent with OSHS, the parties must immediately revert to a normal eight-hour workday.

The advisory must be published in two newspapers of general circulation.
The advisory becomes part of DOLE labor education manuals to be developed by DOLE.
Firms adopting a CWW scheme must ensure the advisory is posted in a conspicuous location in the workplace.