A TEACHERS’ group asked the Civil Service Commission to recompense “lost leave benefits” of teachers under the proportional vacation pay.

It said that teachers worked for 13 months straight without a day of leave benefits for School Year 2020-2021.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers urged  the CSC to order the grant of service credit for each day of overtime work, plus the payment of 25 percent of teacher’s daily rate for the overtime work rendered.

In a letter sent to CSC, ACT stated that under regular school years, public school teachers normally enjoy their PVP in April and May, but the sudden shift to distance learning and adjustments to the school calendar in response to the pandemic obliged them to render more than 13 months of continuous and rigorous service, or an additional 77 days of overtime work.

“May we remind our government that our teachers are not machines, and they, too, deserve a break and should be compensated for their extended labor,” the group said.

“Nagkakasakit na ang mga guro sa bigat ng trabaho sa distance learning pero hindi pa sila makapagpahinga dahil may tatlong buwan pa ang itatakbo ng pasukan. The least the government can do is to look after our educators’ welfare and heed their demands,” Raymond Basilio, the group’s secretary general, said.

Service credit is a privilege granted to teachers for days that they are required to work outside of their regular workdays, which they can use to offset their absences. The Labor Code of the Philippines, on the other hand, provides for the payment of 25 percent premium on the salaries of workers who were required to render overtime work.

“Hindi po kami humihingi ng sobra-sobra. Ang hinihiling namin ay ang aming karapatan para sa karampatang benepisyo na isinasaad naman ng mga batas at kautusan,” Basilio said.

ACT urged the CSC to “formulate and implement just measures” for the grant of “service credit for each day of work in excess of the mandated maximum 220 school days, and additional pay of 25 percent on the daily rate of teachers for each day of overtime work.”