DOLE warns employers: pay

 13th month or get fined

QUEZON CITY, December 5 (PIA)--The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has again reminded employers: give the 13th month pay on or before December 24, or face penalties and possible closure.

Through Labor Advisory #18, series of 2018 issued December 4, 2018, DOLE, through Secretary Silvestre Bello cited the implementing rules of Presidential Decree 851 which mandates employers in the private sector to pay their rank and file workers the 13th month pay before December 24.

By 13th month pay, DOLE means 1/12th of the basic salary of the employee within the calendar year.

By basic salary, DOLE means those inclusive of all remuneration or earninga paid by the employer to workers for services rendered.

This however is exclusive of the cost of living allowance, profit sharing, unused leave balances, overtime premiums, night shift differential and holiday pay, according to Sec Bello in the advisory.

Covered in the advisory are the rank and file employees in the private sector regardless of position, designation, employment status irreapective of method by which wages are paid, provided that they have worked for at least a month.

This also means even resigned workers who have rendered services for at least a.month within the calendar year are still entitled to the extra pay benefit, the government's labor authorities clarified.

By this, the amount should not bebless than 1/12th of the total basic salary earned.

Simply put, the workers 13th month pay is computed as the total basic salary earned over 12 months, explained the DOLE in the advisory.

And of the total amount, half may be given before the opening of the regular school year and the remaining half, on or before December 24.

And in a recent statement, Sec. Bello warns employers: pay the 13th month benefit or be slapped with penalties, or worse, get closure orders. (rach/PIA-7/Bohol)