Courts adopt rotating four-day workweek

The one-day leave during weekdays will be implemented alternately among court officials and employees, so that each of them would be able to render the required 40 hours of work weekly

Beginning today, 1 December, all courts nationwide will be adopting a 10-hour weekday operation with the implementation by the Supreme Court (SC) of a four-day workweek for all court officials and employees.

In a circular issued last 24 November, Chief Justice Diosdado M. Peralta said the adoption of the four-day workweek is in line with the directive issued by the Civil Service Commission (CSC) last 15 October for implementation during the health emergency period due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under the said scheme, 80 percent of all court personnel will report for work Mondays to Fridays from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and the remaining 20 percent will take a one-day leave.

The one-day leave during weekdays will be implemented alternately among court officials and employees, so that each of them would be able to render the required 40 hours of work weekly.

The traditional practice of flexible time and overtime work for employees have been canceled starting 1 December.

Since the start of the COVID- 19 health crisis, Peralta has issued various circulars to assure that all courts are functioning.

Among these are the adoption of video conferencing for hearings on civil and criminal cases, online filing of petitions and other pleadings, and maintenance of skeleton staff in all courts.

Under the SC circular on the four-day workweek, the heads of the Court of Appeals, Sandiganbayan, Court of Tax Appeals and all trial courts have been required to submit their guidelines for the implementation of the measure.