Habitual Absenteeism, Tardiness, And Undertime

 Administrative Discipline & Remedies

- August 11, 2014

Regularity in attendance is very important in the

government. Yet, problems in ATU (absenteeism tardiness undertime) plague offices all
the time.
Government employees are required to render 40 hours of service every week, or 8 hours
daily from Mondays through Fridays. Heads of agencies are mandated to ensure a system
that will monitor attendance. The agency could use a Daily Time Record (DTR) via
bundy clock, a Biometric Machine, or an Attendance Logbook if the two other options
are not available. Since the public requires the delivery of efficient and prompt service, a
civil servant is expected to be available and be at his/her workstation during the regular
office hours – that is, from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM except in case of a flexible work
schedule.

Some don’t really know this, but offenses involving serious violations of the rules on
attendance are considered grave offenses. It could get an employee suspended for 6
months and 1 day to 1 year for the first offense and could get him/her dismissed on the
second. These offenses are:

1. Habitual Absenteeism – this happens when the employee incurs unauthorized (read:
no approved/official leave) absences for more than 2.5 days for at least 3 months in a
single semester, or for 3 consecutive months in a year;
2. Habitual Tardiness – this happens when the employee is tardy for at least 10 times in
a month for 2 months in a single semester; or 10 times in a month for two consecutive
months in a single year. Take note that, technically, 8:01 AM is already considered tardy.
The 15-minute “grace-period” known and commonly practiced among government
offices has no basis in law or CSC regulation. To be sure, forget about the so-called
“grace period” in determining whether you’re tardy during a particular date or not; and
3. Loafing – an employee is guilty of loafing if he/she incurs frequent unauthorized
absences from duty during office hours. A simple (yet very real) example of this is when
a government employee does personal shopping at a mall during office hours.
Now, what if you were only absent for half day? CSC Memorandum Circular No. 17, s.
2010 (Policy on Half-day Absence)explains that a morning absence is
considered tardy while an absence in the afternoon is considered as an undertime.
Remember the following rules on undertime indicated under CSC MC No. 16, s. 2010:
1. Any officer or employee who incurs undertime, regardless of the number of
minutes/hours, ten times a month for at least two months in a semester shall be
liable for Simple Misconduct and/or Conduct Prejudicial to the Best Interest of the
Service, as the case may be; and
2. Any officer or employee who incurs undertime, regardless of the number of
minutes/hours, ten times a month for at least two consecutive months during the
year shall be liable for Simple Misconduct and/or Conduct Prejudicial to the Best
Interest of the Service, as the case may be.