NWPC alters rules to allow timely wage orders
TO ensure compliance with the directive of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) has amended its rules on minimum wage setting by allowing the earlier issuance of wage orders by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards (RTWPBs).
Based on NWPC Resolution No. 05-2024, RTWPBs shall now be allowed to issue wage orders within the one-year period from the effecitivity of the last wage order.
“Whether the wage determination process was initiated motu proprio or by a petition for wage increase filed by concerned parties, the Board shall issue a resolution stating the results of the minimum wage determination process within 30 days from the date of the last public hearing,” said the NWPC.
However, the agency said the issuance of the wage order before the anniversary of the last wage order does not mean that it can take effect earlier than the 12-month period.
“A wage order shall take effect after 15 days from its publication in at least one newspaper of general circulation in the region; provided that no new wage order shall take effect within 12 months from the effectivity of the immediately preceding wage order,” said the NWPC.
According to the NWPC, the previous rule provides that a new wage order can only be issued after 12 months from effectivity of the current wage order and that a new wage order can take effect only after 15 days from its publication.
“(It) does not allow a wage order to take effect immediately after the anniversary date of the current wage order that it is intended to replace,” pointed the Commission.
“The Boards should be allowed to issue a new wage order prior to the anniversary date of the current wage order so that the new wage order can be effective on or after the anniversary date,” added the NWPC.
Last May, Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma pushed for the adoption of a regular and predictable schedule of wage reviews, as well as issuances and effectivity of wage orders by the RTWPBs.
