DOLE: 13th month pay should be paid on or before Dec 24

The Labor department is reminding employers to release workers' 13th month pay on or before December 24. In an article on the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Website, Secretary Marinito Roque said that paying of 13th-month pay is mandatory. He said that the pay is based on the "time-honored" Presidential Decree No. 851 issued on December 16, 1976. According to the decree, all employers in the country are required to pay their workers' 13th month pay not later than December 24 of every year. Salary workers should report to the DOLE office nearest them if their employers failed to pay on the specified date. On the other hand, Roque said the 13th-month pay should not be confused with the Christmas bonus, which is discretionary on the part of the employers. He said that while the law requires employers to pay their rank-and-file employees the 13th-month pay, a Christmas bonus is basically a "management prerogative." Also, he said employers may also grant their workers bonuses on top of the 13th-month pay, depending on their discretion, or Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and other agreements. As such, he said workers can only ask the management to grant them Christmas bonus which is discretionary on the part of the employer. Meanwhile, Roque appreciated the generous effort by members of the country’s employers sector to ensure that their employees are given, aside from the 13th month pay, a Christmas bonus. The 500-corporation-strong Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) earlier said employees will be receiving their Christmas bonuses this year. Meanwhile, the DOLE’s Bureau of Working Conditions (BWC) clarified the salient provisions of PD 851 requiring all employers to pay their employees a 13th-month pay. The BWC said the 13th month pay must not be less than one-twelfth of the total basic salary earned by an employee in a calendar year. While all employers are required to pay their employees the 13th month pay not later than December 24 of every year, an employer may give to his or her employees one-half of it before the opening of the school year, and the remaining half on or before December 24. For this purpose, the frequency of payment of the monetary benefit may be the subject of an agreement between the employer and the recognized collective bargaining agent of the employees, the BWC emphasized. - LBG, GMANews.TV