Amid the current water shortage, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) said that heads of agencies have the discretion to allow their employees to forego wearing office uniforms.

The CSC said that heads of agencies, including local government units, are authorized to issue internal rules suspending the wearing of office uniforms until the water shortage in National Capital Region and drought in other provinces in the Philippines is over.

“We understand that there may be employees affected by water shortage who are unable to regularly wash their office uniforms. We do not want this to become a reason for their absence from work and to eventually cause problems in productivity,” the CSC said.

Under civil service rules and regulations, appropriate dress code of government workers must be prescribed by agency heads through the issuance of internal policies.