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Regular faculty members of the University of the Philippines have been granted 10 days of sick leave credits for each year of service. The benefit, contained in the revised Proposal to Grant Sick Leave (Cumulative and Commutable) to members of the Faculty, was approved by the Board of Regents at its 1226th Meeting on October 25.

According to UP Diliman Chancellor Sergio S. Cao, the grant is the University’s way of addressing concerns of faculty members who need to go on extended leave because of prolonged illness. Prior to the proposal’s approval, members of the faculty were only entitled to 15 days of paid sick leaves each year. “If a professor needed to go on leave for more than 15 days because of illness, he or she does so without pay. If her or she does not get sick within the year, the leave credits are forfeited. Their leave credits are not cumulative and could not be converted to cash,” Cao said.

The proposal states the rationale behind the grant as such: “The members of the faculty do not accumulate sick leave credits. Faculty members who get seriously ill are entitled to 15 days paid sick leave, beyond which they go on leave without pay. The administrative staff and the REPS, on the other hand, accumulate leave credits of 30 days for every year of service which they can monetize upon retirement, resignation, due to serious illness or whenever there is a call for monetization of earned leave credits.”

The benefit is also cumulative and commutable under certain conditions as a result of the BOR’s approval of the revisions recommended by the UPD Executive Committee (Execom).

The original proposal, which was prepared by the Office of the Vice President for Administration, sought to grant faculty members a 10-day leave credit for each year of service but the benefit was only cumulative up to a maximum period of one year and was not commutable or cannot be monetized. It was approved in principle by the BOR at its 1223rd Meeting on August 22.

Since the approval was still in principle and the proposal may still be revised, Cao convened the Execom to discuss two recommendations: to increase the number of paid sick leaves to 15; and to make the benefit convertible to cash, under certain conditions.

“The suggestion was to make the benefit commutable only upon mandatory retirement, pag umabot ka ng age 65. Pag magre-retire na yung faculty at hindi siya nagkasakit, dapat makuha niya ito ng buo kasi matagal na siyang nag-serve sa UP. Motivation din yun para hindi siya magkasakit at para tumagal sa UP. Kung nag early retirement o nag-resign naman siya, hindi ito makukuha. Pero pag may sakit siya, magagamit ito,” Cao said.

The Execom unanimously approved the proposed revisions and Cao submitted the endorsement to UP President Emerlinda R. Román, who in turn endorsed it to the BOR.

Following the BOR’s approval of the revised proposal, the president issued its implementing guidelines in a memorandum dated October 30.

The revised grant has five provisions.

The first provision states: “Faculty members (regular, full time) be granted sick leave benefit for a period equivalent to 10 days per year of full service, cumulative and commutable only upon compulsory retirement and upon optional retirement due to serious/severe illness (as defined by Philhealth).”

Philhealth classifies severe/serious illness/injury as either catastrophic cases or confinements in the intensive care unit other than those classified as catastrophic (see Philhealth classification of diseases).

The first provision however adds “Faculty members who get seriously ill may avail of sick leave with pay charged to this benefit but cannot monetize a portion thereof before retirement.”

Using herself as an example to explain the provision, Samaniego, said, “If I resign now and I am not yet 65, I forfeit all the 10 days that I have accumulated in the past years that I have served the University. But if I resign because of a serious illness, then I am able to get it.”

The second provision takes into consideration the time a member of the faculty has been on a substitute or contractual status.

It states “The number of years for which a regular faculty member has been a substitute and/or on contractual status be counted towards this leave benefit.”

The third provision limits the applicability of the benefit.

“Faculty administrators, researchers, community workers who are entitled to cumulative and commutable leave credits (15 days vacation leave and 15 days sick leave per year of service) shall not enjoy the benefit under this proposal during the period that they are earning the above-mentioned leave credits.”

According to Samaniego, this benefit is not on top of the benefits extended to faculty administrators. Rather, it is meant to give members of the faculty the same leave benefits as the ad- ministrative staff and the REPS.

Researchers, community workers and faculty administrators such as college deans, secretaries, department heads and heads of administration units enjoy the leave benefits extended to administrative staff and REPS consisting of the 15-day vacation leave and 15-day sick leave credits, both of which are cumulative and commutable.

On the other hand, regular faculty members without administrative positions and without a 1-year research activity do not accumulate sick leaves.

They are only allowed 15 days of sick leave with pay per year of full service. If they do not avail of this benefit, it is forfeited. If they need to go on extended leave, they do so without pay since this benefit is not cumulative,” she said.
However, the fourth provision allows faculty administrators to utilize this new benefit in times of illness.
The fourth provision states “Regular, full time faculty members with serious/severe illness, who have accumulated commutable leave credits earned as faculty administrator or researcher/community worker will be granted sick leave with pay charged to the benefit under this proposal to the maximum allowable period before using the earned monetizable leave credits.”

Should there be an instance where a faculty administrator will need to extend his or her sick leave, the credits earned under this new benefit will be applied first.

“This benefit is not monetizable anytime whereas the benefits one earns as a faculty administrator may be converted to cash during the annual regular monetization or in times of illnesses that are not classified as severe or serious,” Samaniego explained.

Finally, the proposal clarifies that “This grant is different from the Rehabilitation leave which is given to employees who sustained injury while in the performance of duty. Employees who avail of the benefit of Rehabilitation Leave may not avail of this sick leave benefit.”

Prof. Judy Taguiwalo, head of the All-UP Academic Employees Union (AUPAE), welcomed the added benefit.

In a letter to Samaniego dated September 17, the AUPAEU and the All UP Workers Union said, “The proposal recognizes the sad reality that the current Philhealth and GSIS systems which cover UP employees are woefully inadequate in meeting the exorbitant costs of serious illnesses which may strike anytime and illnesses in our ageing years. The University has found a way to supplement this inadequacy by providing extended sick leave with pay for faculty members (both tenured and untenured) through its proposal to the BOR granting 10 days additional sick leave for every year of service for a maximum of one year for those with severe and serious illness as specified in the Philhealth guidelines.”

BOR approves new sick leave benefit for faculty