5 days to go...

As the days are drawing near, the wait seams to be unbearable. There are still mixtures of emotions - anxieties, eagerness, excited, depressions - all in one. I've read on some books that in order to cope up with negative emotions, you have to let it out. One of which is to write about it. It's like telling someone about your feelings. Soon, I'll be outta here!!

One Funny(?) Joke - All about Retrenchment

I read a supposedly funny joke about one retrenchment incident. I don't know if this is true or not.

The story goes:

In a large multinational company…………..

A fire alarm rang at 4 PM in a large office when almost all employees were in office (approx 5000).

Continue reading here:

http://barangaysingapore.com/employment/retrenchment-the-last-evacuation-drill/

10 Crazy Wild Ideas after Retrenchment - Part I

I had to clear off my mind after the retrenchment and think of ideas on how to proceed with my life. I came up with this list of ideas. Some are crazy weird ideas.

1. Go into Internet Marketing. (Blogging) - Blogging about my own Retrenchment. (Ha-Ha!)

2. Have a corporate biz (applying my skills that I learned from work).

3. Go home and be a bum.

4. Go to someone rich and ask him/her to adopt me.

5. Create a Vlog and get popular. (Even though I know that I'm camera shy...)

6. Apply again for a regular company (Actually I don't like this idea anymore.)

7. Work abroad (I don't really like this. I just love to travel for vacation.)

8. Get an online job (Part time job) just to pay off my rent.

9. Get really depressed and get confined in a mental hospital.

10. Go into online tutoring (guitar lessons, basic programming concepts, pc troubleshooting)

Separation Pay Computation

I did some research from the internet and found this article on How to compute separation pay in the Philippines. This is by the author named Victorino Q. Abrugar

I made some markings on the important notes.

Separation pay is given to employees whose services are terminated by their employers for the following reasons as stated by Articles 283 and 284 of the Labor Code as follows:

Art. 283. Closure of establishment and reduction of personnel.

The employer may also terminate the employment of any employee due to the installation of labor-saving devices, redundancy, prevent losses or the closing or cessation of operation of the establishment or undertaking unless the closing is for the purpose of circumventing the provisions of this Title, by serving a written notice on the workers and the Ministry of Labor and Employment at least one (1) month before the intended date thereof. In case of termination due to the installation of labor-saving devices or redundancy, the worker affected thereby shall be entitled to a separation pay equivalent to at least his one (1) month pay or to at least one (1) month pay for every year of service, whichever is higher. In case of retrenchment to prevent losses and in cases of closures or cessation of operations of establishment or undertaking not due to serious business losses or financial reverses, the separation pay shall be equivalent to one (1) month pay or at least one-half (1/2) month pay for every year of service, whichever is higher. A fraction of at least six (6) months shall be considered one (1) whole year.

Art. 284. Disease as ground for termination.

An employer may terminate the services of an employee who has been found to be suffering from any disease and whose continued employment is prohibited by law or is prejudicial to his health as well as to the health of his co-employees: Provided, That he is paid separation pay equivalent to at least one (1) month salary or to one-half (1/2) month salary for every year of service, whichever is greater, a fraction of at least six (6) months being considered as one (1) whole year.

The previous articles stated the grounds where an employee can be entitled to a separation pay upon the termination of his services to the employer. An employee may also be terminated for just causes as enumerated below under Article 282 of the Labor Code. Generally, employees falling under this article are not entitled to separation pay.

Art. 282. Termination by employer.

An employer may terminate an employment for any of the following causes:

a. Serious misconduct or willful disobedience by the employee of the lawful orders of his employer or representative in connection with his work;

b. Gross and habitual neglect by the employee of his duties;

c. Fraud or willful breach by the employee of the trust reposed in him by his employer or duly authorized representative;

d. Commission of a crime or offense by the employee against the person of his employer or any immediate member of his family or his duly authorized representatives; and

e. Other causes analogous to the foregoing.

Is separation pay taxable?

Under Section 32(B)(6)(b) of the 1997 Tax Code, any amount received by an official or employee or by his heirs from the employer as a consequence of separation of such official or employee from the service of the employer due to death, sickness or other physical disability or for any cause beyond the control of the said official or employee is exempt from taxes regardless of age or length of service. The phrase “for any cause beyond the control of the said official or employee” in effect connotes involuntariness on the part of the official or employee. The separation from the service of the official or employee must not be of his own making. (Sec 4(f). Revenue Regulations No 1-68; Sec 2(b)(2), Rev. Regs. No 6-82, as amended). Therefore, separation pay under the foregoing ruling shall not be subject to income tax and consequently to withholding tax.

Notes:

The computation of separation pay shall be based on the latest salary rate, unless the same was reduced by the employer to defeat the intention of the Labor Code, in which case, the separation pay shall be based on the rate before the deduction.

The amount of the separation pay shall be multiplied with the number of years of actual service. In computing the length of service, a fraction of at least six (6) months is considered as one (1) whole year.

Generally, an employee who resigns is not entitled to separation pay except when it is stipulated in his employment contract or collective bargaining agreement, or such is an established practice or policy of the company. An employee resignation is presumed to be voluntary.

References:

http://businessaccent.com/2009/10/30/how-to-compute-separation-pay-in-the-philippines/

DOLE: Basis of computation of separation pay

Labor Code of the Philippines

Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Ruling

My question to you would be, if you receive your separation pay, do you know what you would do with this fund?  You may read this for some tips on how:  Solid Financial Foundation

There are free seminars on how to manage your finance.  You may email yzero8_norm@yahoo.com for details.

Cutting Down or Reduction

Cutting Down or Reduction???? I wonder if this is how my boss understand Retrenchment.
Last week, I just found out that our boss asked our messenger to throw away all scratch papers. Those were still good scratch papers since the back side of those were still empty. And those could be used to cut cost paper usage. There are many costs that were unnecessary. One was to rent a warehouse office just to store archives even if there were enough space inside our office.

What Is Retrenchment?

What is the exact meaning of the word Retrenchment?

According to Wikipedia,

Retrenchment (French: retrenchment, an old form of retranchement, from retrancher, to cut down, cut short) is an act of cutting down or reduction, particularly of public expenditure.

Cutting Down or Reduction.... hmmmm...I wonder if this is how our boss understand the word...

Political usage

The word is familiar in this, its most general sense, from the motto of the Gladstonian Liberal party in British politics, "Peace, Retrenchment and Reform."

The manifesto for 1906 Liberal landslide was launched with this slogan:

Expenditure calls for taxes, and taxes are the plaything of the tariff reformer. Militarism, extravagance, protection are weeds which grow in the same field, and if you want to clear the field for honest cultivation you must root them all out. For my own part, I do not believe that we should have been confronted by the spectre of protection if it had not been for the South African war. ... Depend upon it that in fighting for our open ports and for the cheap food and material upon which the welfare of the people and the prosperity of our commerce depend we are fighting against those powers, privileges, injustices, and monopolies which are unalterably opposed to the triumph of democratic principles.^[1]

[edit]Military usage

A special technical use of the term is in fortification, where it is applied to a work or series of works constructed in rear of existing defences in order to bar the further progress of the enemy should he succeed in breaching or storming these. An example was in the siege of Port Arthur in 1904.

Retrenchement Announcement

January 5, 2010. My first day of work for the year.

I was doing my routineary work as usual when my boss called me. I went in his office.

He asked me to sit down, and started asking weird questions. He was asking me

how many years have I already served our company. There were lots of things our boss was

telling me. He was telling me about how our company have no more sales for the past years now and that we are at a loss. At the end of his speech, he then told me that he need to terminate my employment. He gave me the termination paper, and said sorry for this. He promised to give us compensation.

I went back to my desk. I wasn't feeling anything at that time. Maybe I was too shock to feel anything. It was a mixed feeling of relief that finally I could have some change in my life and fear of having no income.