Senate bill eyes to require 14th month pay, earlier release of 13th month
MANILA, Philippines — Senate Minority Leader Vicente "Tito" Sotto III has filed a bill requiring private employers to grant workers a 14th month pay.
In a statement on Sunday, August 17, Sotto said the 13th month pay is no longer enough to keep up with the rising prices of basic goods and services.
Sotto argued that the 14th month pay would provide much-needed support for private sector employees.
“After almost five decades, the needs and cost of living of every Filipino worker have drastically changed, thus it is high time that employees in the private sector receive their 14th month pay,” he said.
The 13th month pay, mandated by Presidential Decree 851 in the late 1970s, entitles employees to at least one-twelfth of their annual basic salary.
Simply put, it serves as an additional month’s pay, which is why it is called the 13th month.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) currently requires the 13th month pay to be given no later than December 24.
However, Senate Bill 193 proposes to advance the deadline to June 14, while setting December 24 as the release date for a 14th month pay.
The 14th month pay is proposed for all non-government rank-and-file employees, domestic workers covered by the Kasambahay Law and others already entitled to the 13th month pay.
Like the 13th month, it would amount to at least one-twelfth of an employee’s yearly basic salary.
With a 14th month pay, employees would in effect, get the equivalent of two extra months’ salary each year.
For example, an employee earning P250,000 annually would be entitled to at least P20,833 each for the 13th and 14th month, or around P41,666 combined in a year.
The proposed law allows flexibility in the frequency of payment, which may be determined through an agreement between employer and employee.
It also outlines exemptions for certain employers who would not be required to provide a 14th month pay.
These include distressed companies incurring substantial losses, non-profit institutions with income declines of more than 40%, government agencies, employers already providing a 14th month pay or more, and those whose workers are paid purely on commission, boundary or task basis.
In the 19th Congress, no Senate bill was filed to mandate a 14th month pay. In the House of Representatives, however, four measures sought to require it. Still, not a single one left committee-level deliberations.
Also on the legislative table was the proposed minimum wage hike for private sector employees, where the House sought a P200 increase and the Senate a P100 increase.
However, the bills never reached a bicameral conference committee to reconcile differences. Both measures have since been refiled in the 20th Congress.
RELATED: Back on the table: Minimum wage hike bills refiled as 20th Congress opens
- Latest
- Trending
