Bello assures IRR on service charge law out very soon

CEBU, Philippines — Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has assured that the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the Republic Act 11360 that requires restaurants, hotels, and similar establishments to distribute service charges in full to rank-and-file and supervisory employees will be out soon.

In a statement, Bello said that they have 90 days to make the IRR but they don’t intend to maximize it. Instead, they hope to come up with it as soon as possible so that workers in hotels and restaurants can finally receive reasonable incentives from their hard work and quality services.

The new law signed by President Rodrigo Duterte amended Article 96 of the Labor Code, which only provides workers with 85 percent of the service charge while the remaining 15 percent is kept by the management.

Under the new law, all service charges shall be distributed completely and equally among the workers entitled of it.

“The law will keep our workers in the hotel and restaurants motivated in providing quality services, as well as a chance to give them a simple reward for their hard work,” Bello said.

The law also requires a grievance mechanism to resolve any dispute between employees and the management on the distribution of the service charge.

Bello added that workers can fully receive their equal share from the full collected service charges 15 days after the publication of its IRR in a newspaper of general circulation. (FREEMAN)