Leave Policy in the Philippines

The Republic of the Philippines is an archipelago in Southeast Asia. Like most countries, the Philippines has labor laws that protect employees and contractors from unfairness or discrimination at work and guarantee them statutory benefits that employers must provide in employment contracts.

Labor laws, also known as labor codes or employment laws, enforce the fair relationship between employers and employees. One of the requirements regulated by labor laws is for employers to provide employees with a minimum amount of leave as a mandatory benefit.

Employers can always go above and beyond the minimum amounts of leave but must provide at least the minimum amount of leave set by law.

As per the Philippines' labor laws, employees in the Philippines are entitled to several types of leave from work. Employees are allowed to take a certain number of days off per year for

• Annual vacations
• Public holidays
• Sick leave
• Maternity leave
• Paternity leave

There are also special leave circumstances such as

• Special leave for women in the Philippines
• Leave For Violence Against Women and Children
• Service Incentive Leave

This article will explain the various types of leave to which employees in the Republic of the Philippines are entitled based on the Philippines employment laws and regulations such as the Labor Code of the Philippines. The article will also list the minimum number of days each employee is entitled to take off from work for each situation.

Vacation leave in the Philippines

Employees in the Philippines may take an annual vacation leave of 13 days. Starting on the third year of service, an additional day is added to annual leave for a maximum vacation leave of 18 days. Unused annual vacation leave is convertible to cash at the end of the year.

Public holidays in the Philippines

There are 10 national holidays in the Philippines in addition to special holidays which may be announced. Special holidays change each year and are announced by the government. On these mandatory holidays, employees must get a day off from work. Employees who are made to work on holidays are entitled to 200% of their normal wages.

During these holidays, employees have a right to their normal pay except for those working in the retail industry, in service establishments, or for companies that employ fewer than 10 employees.

The following table is a list of the holidays in the Philippines with dates for 2023.

Sick leave in the Philippines

Employers are required, by law, to provide adequate assistance for medical and dental emergencies and to ensure proper medical treatment is provided to injured or sick employees.

If a company has more than 200 employees and employs workers in a hazardous environment, there must be a full-time registered nurse on duty to take care of medical treatment for employees.

Employees are entitled to 12 days of sick leave for the first two years of service with a company and an additional day per year following that, for a total of 15 days of annual sick leave.

Maternity leave in the Philippines

Pregnant employees in the Philippines who had worked at least six months during the prior 12 months are entitled to fully paid maternity leave.

Employees must take maternity leave two weeks before the expected date of delivery and then four weeks following childbirth, abortion, or miscarriage. Before approving maternity leave, an employer should be given a medical certificate from a doctor certifying that the expected due date is within two weeks.

If there are medical complications resulting from childbirth, maternity leave can continue without pay. Employers must provide paid maternity leave to employees with only up to four deliveries for each employee throughout her career with the company.

Female employees may allocate up to seven days of leave to the father of the child. This leave is paid and is allowed regardless of the marital status of the father. The father would normally need to be married to the mother of the child to be able to take paid paternity leave.

If the mother dies or becomes permanently incapacitated, the remaining balance of maternity leave will go to the father of the child or a qualified caregiver.

Paternity leave in the Philippines

Married male employees may take paternity leave. This leave allows fathers to take seven working days off following the birth of their child or miscarriage with a legitimate legal spouse.

Paternity leave must be taken within 60 days following childbirth or miscarriage and can only be used up to four times per employee per career with the employer.

Special leave in the Philippines

There are situations in addition to the situations above to which some employees in the Philippines are entitled.

Special Leave Benefit For Women in the Philippines

There is a special leave in the Philippines called the Special Leave Benefit for Women or the Magna Carta for Women (Special Leave). This leave grants 60 days off from work following surgery for gynecological disorders. Entitlement for this leave is six months of continuous employment during the 12 months before the surgery.

Victims of Violence Against Women and Children Leave

There is also a leave called the Victims of Violence Against Women and Children Leave. This special leave grants 10 days off to women who have to go through legal issues or medical treatment as a result of violence against them or their children.

This leave can be used as the employee needs to use it, whether all at once or separated, though it can not be rolled over into the following year nor cashed out at the termination of employment.

Bereavement leave

Employees in the Philippines may take bereavement leave of three days when an immediate family member dies. An immediate family member includes a spouse, child, parent, grandparent, brother, sister, and parents-in-law.

Special Incentive Leave in Philippines

Employees in the Philippines who have worked for a company for a full year are entitled to take five working days of paid leave per calendar year. This fully paid annual leave is called the Special Incentive Leave or the Service Incentive Leave in the Philippines.

The Secretary of Labor and Employment exempts establishments employing fewer than 10 employees from having to provide paid annual leave to its employees.

Leave policy in the Philippines

Employers must provide all the statutory benefits to which employees are entitled in their benefits package. When creating a leave policy in the Philippines, employers must include all of the mandatory leave entitlements. These are all the leave that employees must get at a minimum, by law.

Since the employer of record already has a local legal entity, your company would not need to establish one. Your company can thus minimize the risk of permanent establishment, which would require your company to pay a corporate tax, and also saves the time, effort, and expense of building a local legal entity, which is unnecessary and expensive.

In addition to helping your company hire and pay employees, an employer of record can help your company develop a comprehensive and competitive benefits package to attract the best talent, including providing statutory benefits and developing an attractive leave policy.

A global employer of record can help you hire your next globally distributed teams. For the ease of hiring remote staff and for accurate payroll processing, legal compliance, and tax compliance, choose an employer of record such as Skuad. Contact us for a demo today and get started on hiring talent in the Philippines.