Resigned employees are still entitled to 13th month pay, said the National Wages and Productivity Commission Thursday.
The NWPC said the 13th-month pay is equivalent to one-twelfth of the basic salary earned within a calendar year.
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, 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.
The Department of Labor and Employment has reminded employers in the private sector that the 13th month pay must be given on or before Christmas Eve, Dec. 24.
“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,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said in Labor Advisory No. 18, Series of 2018.
“The only condition is that they should have worked for at least one month during the calendar year,” he added.
Employers were also reminded to submit a report to the Department of their compliance with the Labor Code-mandated payment of 13th month pay to their workers.
“Covered employers must make a report of their compliance with the law to the nearest DoLE regional office not later than Jan. 15 next year,” Bello said.
He added that 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. (Leslie Ann G. Aquino)