DOLE Region 8 attends to complaints on non-payment of 13th month pay

TACLOBAN CITY, Jan. 9 (PNA) -- The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has been receiving complaints from workers on non-payment of their 13th month pay by their employers.

Virgilio Doroja Jr., DOLE Eastern Visayas regional information officer, said they have been numerous complaints through phone calls, letters, and e-mails from workers in private establishments, private schools, construction firms, and retail shops.

The DOLE field office here is still consolidating all 13th month pay-related grievances in the region.

"We noticed that there is an increasing number of complaints now. Probably because workers see a big brother in the person of President Rodrigo Duterte. They are hoping that the President will look into their welfare," Doroja said.

Under the law, employers are given until January 15 of every year to submit proof of compliance on 13th month pay releases.

“If the employer will not be able to submit the compliance, then DOLE, on the bases of the complaints received, will conduct assessment visit to check whether the establishment has already paid,” Doroja explained.

Doroja said with the discretion of the DOLE regional director, it is possible that the government will force employers to release the benefits to workers.

“Now, if the establishment will not still pay despite of the order then that's the time that the our regional director will exercise its power to guard their bank account,” he said.

Under the law, all employers are mandated to pay their 13th month pay on or before December 24, 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 the year.

The said payment is defined to mean 12 percent of the basic salary of an employee within the 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. (PNA)

LAP/SQM/Lalaine S. Badilla (OJT)