Overview
All leave must be approved in advance by your client and loaded into Staff Central. If you are sick or urgent leave is needed, please refer to the SMS notification process.
- Service Incentive Leave (SIL): One SIL is earned per month (maximum 12 per year) and cannot be used in advance. SIL may be used for vacation and/or sick leave. The first SIL is only awarded in month 6 following a team member start date. However, the first five earned SIL are placed aside as Reserved Leave, which is paid out upon severance of your employment. Team members can only start using SIL at month 11 from your start date.
- Holiday Leave Credits (HLC): Team members must follow all public holidays as dictated by the country and state in which your client is situated. HLC is the difference between the Philippines public holidays and your clients country/state public holidays. This is credited in full at the beginning of the year, or when you start working with your client, and drawn from as days are taken.
- Additional Leave Credits (ALC): Additional credits can be either awarded by your client or SIL that has been rolled over (see below for details). ALC must be used in the first 6 months of the calendar year (i.e. pre 30 June).
What happens at the end of the calendar year?
As at 31 December 2022, the following applies in relation to your leave balance:
- As a team member you can manage five (5) SIL days. Your options are:
- Encash five (5) SIL days
- Elect five (5) SIL days be rolled over to the next year as ALC
- Importantly at 31 December 2022, all remaining unused SIL and HLC will be charged to your client.
How to file holiday offset leave in Staff Central
To file holiday offset, open Staff Central and complete the following steps:
- Go to My Tools
- Go to Activity Reports > My Calendar
- Click on Holiday List.
- Go to plotted holidays and click the pencil icon for your desired date to offset
- Fill out the planned holiday offset (0000-00-00) to the date you plan to take your holiday.
- Fill out the reason (i.e. vacation)
- Attach the approval from your client (a screenshot of an email or chat log that shows your client’s approval)
- Under department, select the appropriate department of your team lead.
- Under Team Lead, select ‘Collynn Cheng-Serteza’ (CollynnC).
- Click ‘Submit’.
If you cannot see the correct holidays in Staff Central please note that the standard calendar of Staff Central is set to NSW. Please contact you optiBPO Account Manager to request HRhelpdesk to update your staff calendar.
How to file for Maternity Leave
The Philippines Government maternity leave law is known as Expanded Maternity Leave (EML) Law under the Republic Act No. 11210. The EML Law grants the following cover to all pregnancies regardless whether they reach full term or not:
- Standard births will receive 105 days maternity leave with full pay
- Solo mothers will receive 120 days maternity leave with full pay
- Women with miscarriages will receive 60 days maternity leave with full pay
To file Maternity Leave:
- File an UberTicket [PB0613] Maternity Notification
- Advise your optiBPO Account Manager, who in turn will provide necessary details to your client
- Submit all necessary documents as proof of pregnancy to the medical team
How to file for Paternity Leave
To file for Paternity Leave, open Staff Central and complete the following steps:
- At Staff Central in/out page, click “Home” to go Staff Central dashboard.
- Then go to “My Tools” > “Applications” > “File Leave”.
- At the File a Leave page, apply for a Special leave > Paternity leave.
- Once accomplished, pop out message will be available to confirm that the Paternity leave has been filed successfully.
- This request will be queued to HR for approval. Once approved, Paternity Leave type will be now available from the drop-down option: “Paternity Leave (7 working days)”.
- Once accomplished, pop out message will be available:
“You have successfully filed your leave. Please wait for its approval.” - You will be notified thru email about the status of your application.
- Note that the paternity benefit may be availed of before, during or after delivery, provided the total number of days does not exceed 7 working days. However, the benefit must be availed of not later than 60 days after date of delivery. Furthermore, Paternity leave is not commutable to cash if not availed of.
Philippine Law allows 7 days Paternity Leave for your legal wife’s delivery (up to a maximum of four deliveries). This can be filed for one-time use and/or staggered within 60 days upon delivery. Any unused Paternity leave must be forfeited.
How to file for Solo Parent Leave
R.A. 8972 or the Solo Parents’ Welfare Act provides for benefits and privileges to solo parents and their children. It aims to develop a comprehensive package of social development and welfare services for solo parents and their children to be carried out by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), as the lead agency, and various government agencies including NSO and other related NGOs.
7-day parental leave on top of the vacation and sick leave credits per year can be applied for under the Solo Parents’ Welfare Act. Important conditions apply including:
- You must be employed by the current company for at least 1 year
- You are required to present a Solo Parent ID
- Leave should only be used for childcare purposes
- Leaves must be approved in advance and loaded into Staff Central
To file for Solo Parent Leave, open Staff Central and complete the following steps:
- Go to My Tools
- Go to Applications > File Leave
- Under Leave Type, select ‘Vacation Leave’
- Select Start and End date
- Fill in the Reason
- Under Department, select ‘Operations’
- Under Account Manager, select the assigned OM per building:
- For staff in CRK08 & CRK09: Choose ‘Giovanni Angelo De Jesus’
- For staff in ORT01: Choose ‘Antonina Francine Martin’
- Attached a scanned copy of the Solo Parent ID
- Once accomplished, pop out message will be available to confirm that the leave has been filed successfully
- After Diana approved it, request will be queued to HR for approval
- You will be notified thru email about the status of your application
How to file for Bereavement Leave
Bereavement Leave applies to death of a relative/family member in the first degree. Three (3) days Bereavement Leave is allowed by Law.
- Single employees – For single employees, this includes death of parents, siblings or grandparents.
- Married employees – For married employees, this includes death of legal spouse, children, parents, siblings, grandparents, or parents-in-law.
In cases where there is death in the same household but member is not a relative/family member in the first degree (ex. death of partner’s parent, but partner is not a legal wife), staff will be allowed to file a leave; VL if with leave credits, or unpaid.
In cases where death of more than one family member happened on the same day, it will still be considered a 3-day bereavement leave. If on separate dates but on the same year, 3-day Bereavement Leave for each death of family member applies.
NOTE: Staff should still follow SMS Notification to inform HR of staff’s absence so filing of leave can be done on staff’s behalf. Staff, however, should present necessary documents (such as death certificate) upon return to work.