DOLE: Employers required to pay, report 13th month

Employers must report to the Department of Labor and Employment their compliance with the Labor Code-mandated payment of 13th-month pay to their workers.

This was reiterated by Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III as he enjoined through Labor Advisory No.18, series of 2018 employers in the private sector to pay their rank-and-file employees a 13th-month pay on or before December 24.

“Covered employers must make a report of their compliance with the law to the nearest DOLE Regional Office not later than January 15 next year,” Secretary Bello said.

Pursuant to the provision of the Presidential Decree 851, which mandates the payment of 13th-month pay, establishments must submit to DOLE a compliance report.

The compliance report must document the name and address of the establishment, the principal product or business, total employment, the total number of workers benefited, the amount granted per employee, and total amount of benefits granted, and the name, position, and telephone number of the person providing the information.

The 13th-month pay is defined to mean one-twelfth (1/12) of the basic salary of an employee within a calendar year.
“Thus, the minimum 13th-month pay required by law shall not be less than one-twelfth (1/12) of the total basic salary earned by an employee within a calendar year,” Bello said.

The basic salary includes all remunerations or earnings paid by an employer to an employee for services rendered, but may not include cost-of-living allowances (COLA), profit-sharing payments, cash equivalents of unused vacation and sick leave credits, overtime pay, premium pay, night shift differential pay, holiday pay, and all allowances and monetary benefits which are not considered, or integrated as part of the regular or basic salary of the employee.

All employers are required to pay their rank-and-file employees the 13th-month pay, regardless of the nature of their employment, and irrespective of the methods by which their wages are paid, provided they worked for at least one month during a calendar year.

The only condition is that they should have worked for at least one month during the calendar year. (DOLE)

SOURCE: PIA (2018). DOLE to establishments: Report payment of 13th month. Written by DOLE. Published on December 20, 2018. https://pia.gov.ph/news/articles/1016327