CEBU, Philippines — Employers are reminded to pay the mandated 13th month pay to their workers before December 24.
Department of Labor and Employment-7 regional director Johnson Cañete said the 13th month should be paid to all rank-and-file employees "regardless of the nature of their employment and irrespective of the methods by which their wages are paid."
It also means that workers holding managerial positions are not entitled to 13th month, he said.
“A managerial employee is one who has the power to lay down and execute management policies and to hire, transfer, suspend, layoff, recall, discharge, assign or discipline employees or even to effectively recommend such managerial actions,” he said in a statement yesterday.
All employees not falling within such definition are considered rank-and-file employees and are entitled to 13th month.
The basic salary of workers is the basis for the 13th month computation, which means one twelfth of the basic salary of an employee within the calendar year.
The 13th month pay may not include the cost-of-living allowances (COLA); profit-sharing payments; overtime pay; premium pay; night shift differential; 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.
“We would just want to make things clear and defined insofar as the computation of 13th month pay is concerned. It is very simple to compute because all one needs to do is just sum up the actual basic salary he or she received for each month during the calendar year and then divide the total by 12 months,” Cañete said.
He clarified all rank-and-file workers, provided they have worked for at least one month of the calendar year, are entitled to this mandated pay.
“We are reminding the employers of their obligation to pay all their rank-and-file employees with 13th month pay not later than December 24,” he said.
However, he clarified that an employer may give his or her employees one-half of the 13th month pay before the opening of the regular school year and the remaining half on or before December 24 of every year.
He emphasized that household helpers or kasambahay are also covered by 13th month pay. (FREEMAN)