Mindanaotoday.com | DOLE-10: ‘All employers must give 13th month pay’
By: Uriel Quilinguing
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – “Total actual salary received by the employee within the year, divide (it) by 12, (and) that’s the computation of the 13th month pay.”
This was the response of Albert Gutib, Department of Labor and Employment-10 regional director Tuesday, Dec. 20, when asked in a forum at a downtown mall in Cagayan de Oro how the mandated 13th month pay be computed.
“Regardless of the (daily) minimum wage,” quipped Gutib, in obvious reference to a two-tranche Wage Order No. RX-21 – the first adjustment took effect June 18 and the second was Friday (Dec. 16) last week.
If a worker under Wage Category 1 has rendered services for 309 days (except Sundays, excluding premiums on special working and regular holidays and on overtime, he would be entitled to at least 9,761-peso 13th month pay.
“The 13th month pay must be given not later than December 24,” said the DOLE-10 head and such instruction was intended for employers, including those in micro and small enterprises, as long as the worker was employed for at least a month.
Domestic helpers and family drivers are included in the 13th month pay, mandated under Presidential Decree No. 851.
Gutib, who also chairs the five-member Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board (RTWPB) in Northern Mindanao, said all employers are required to submit a report of 13th month pay compliance to the DOLE-10 not later than January 15, 2023.
He, however, clarified that the granting of 14th and 15th month pay is a matter of company policy, perhaps under a Collective Bargaining Agreement if the workers are unionized.
At present, the minimum wage per day in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan – including all other cities, except Oroquieta and Tangub under Wage Order No. RX-21 –s well as in Tagoloan, Villanueva and Jasaan towns is P405 starting Dec. 16, this year when the second tranche of adjustment took effect.
Starting June 18, this year, the daily minimum wage – Under Wage Category 1 and 2 — was P390 when the first tranche of P25 was granted under Wage Order No. RX-21, thus adjusting the P365 under Wage Order No. RX-20. (MT)
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