Habitual Absenteeism, Tardiness, and

Undertime
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 dont 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 youre 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 anundertime. 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.
Note (02/17/2016) For teachers who are reading this, please note that you are covered by unique rules
on work hours. Kindly refer to them through DEPEDs website to avoid confusion.