Job order, government contractual workers to get P5K gratuity pay

President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday issued Administrative Order 46 to give P5,000 gratuity pay to contract of service (COS) and job order (JO) workers in the government.

The worker must have at least four months of actual satisfactory performance of services to receive such an amount.

Under AO 46, among those who will receive gratuity pay are COS and JO workers in government agencies, state universities and colleges (SUCs), government-owned or -controlled corporations (GOCCs), and local water districts (LWDs) with the contract effective until December 15.

“Granting a year-end gratuity pay to COS and JO workers is a well­ deserved recognition of their hard work in implementing programs, projects, and activities, including those which are part of the emergency COVID-19 response efforts of the government,” the AO 46 said.

Unlike regular government employees, COS and JO workers do not have benefits such as Personnel Economic Relief Allowance, mid-year, and year-end bonuses and performance-based bonuses, and so on.

COS and JO workers who have been less than four months will still receive gratuity pay but less than P5,000.

Those with three months of actual satisfactory service performance will receive P4,000, while those with two months of actual satisfactory performance of service will receive P3,000.

Job order, government contractual workers to get P5K gratuity pay

Those with less than two months of actual satisfactory service performance will receive no more than P2,000.

Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte approved up to P10,000 service recognition incentive (SRI) for government employees, but not all of them are covered.

“The government continues to acknowledge all public servants for their collective and unceasing participation in and invaluable contribution to the establishment of streamlined government processes and responsive delivery of services to the public, especially amid the prevailing public health emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said.

According to the group Kawani Laban sa Kontraktuwalisasyon (KALAKON), it is disappointing that the government treats JO and COS workers differently.

“May problema talaga sa polisiya ang ating government kasi ‘yung government mismo sinasabi sa 1987 Constitution natin na dapat may security of tenure ‘yung mga manggagawa pero hindi naman napapatupad, hindi naman naipapatupad ng mismong gobyerno natin,” said Roxanne Fernandez, KALAKON spokesperson.