Give 13th-month pay, labor chief tells 3,700 businesses

Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz is reminding the owners of some 3,700 private business in the country to give the 13th-month pay of their employees as mandated by law.

“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 have worked for at least one month during a calendar year,” Baldoz said.

The Labor secretary made the reminder as compliance of the law slightly dipped in 2014 from 2012 and 2013 figures.

“In 2014, 65,301 of 69,069 establishments gave their workers their 13th-month pay, or a 94.23 percent compliance rate,” data from the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) said.

The figure was slightly lower than the 94.76 percent compliance rate in 2012 and 94.92 percent in 2013.

The dip, the Dole noted, brought to 3,768 the number of non-compliant businesses, which employ thousands of workers who do not receive their mandated benefits.

Despite the slight downturn, the 2012 to 2014 rates were higher than the 2011 figures when only 88.23 percent of the nearly 70,000 private businesses complied with the law.

A total of “3,768 (of the 69,069 companies) were reported as noncompliant” in 2014, the Dole said.

The rise in compliance from 2011 was due to Baldoz constantly “urging private sector employers to pay their workers’ 13th-month pay, and since then, compliance with the standard has been on the rise,” the Dole said.

Over the weekend, Baldoz again reminded private employers to release the 13th-month salary of their workers “on or before Dec. 24.”

She emphasized that giving the 13th-month pay would “foster good labor-management relations and increase workers and enterprises’ productivity and competitiveness in the workplace.” Jerry E. Esplanada