Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 19) — The Civil Service Commission (CSC) has entitled government workers to excused absence if they are undergoing quarantine, isolation, and/or treatment for COVID-19.
The current health crisis points to a need to clarify the definition of excused absence.
“Excused absence refers to the period when a government worker is not required to report for work due to required quarantine period, isolation, and/or treatment, and/or announcement of work suspension, but are entitled to pay,” said the agency in a statement on Wednesday.
The rule also applies to required quarantine, isolation and treatment after official travel.
For personal travel, only the required quarantine period may be excused, while the isolation and/or treatment period shall be charged against leave credits. However, if the personal international travel had no approved travel authority, then leave credits will be used for all quarantine and isolation days.
The CSC noted that required quarantine period refers to the number of days a person must undergo quarantine, or separation and restriction of movement, while waiting for swab test result to determine if he is positive or otherwise.
On the other hand, isolation is the act of containing oneself at a particular place for the purpose of treatment and monitoring.
If the worker has to undergo quarantine for contracting the disease or for being identified as a close contact due to personal activities, their absence from work may still be excused. But if these activities are in violation of the Inter-Agency Task Force’s policies, they will be charged against leave credits.
Workers under quarantine may be allowed to work from home, the CSC said. But if they get sick under this arrangement, their isolation and treatment period will be considered as sick leave.
When returning to work, the employees must submit documents to their human resources office proving that they have completed their quarantine period and have been cleared to return, among other requirements, the commission added.
The CSC’s latest resolution No. 2101122 amended the interim guidelines on excused absences for COVID-19, updating it to cover government workers who are “infected or identified as close contacts of a suspect, probable, and/or confirmed cases of COVID-19 while in the performance of their official functions, (onsite or WFH arrangement).”
