The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said Friday it is set to issue an advisory regarding the grant of 13th-month pay for private sector employees.

“We will release a labor advisory to guide our employers in the payment of the 13th-month pay this year, for 2022. At the same time, we are also contacting our employers’ organizations for the correct payment of the 13th-month pay,” Alvin Curada, director of the DOLE’s Bureau of Working Conditions (BWC), said in a Laging Handa briefing.

He noted that for this year, the computation for the 13th-month pay would be based on all the basic salary that a worker received from January 1 to December 31 this year.

“It will be divided by 12. The total is the 13th-month pay. This is 1/12 of the total basic salary earned by the employee in one calendar year or this year,“ Curada said.

Under Presidential Decree 851, which was signed by the late president Ferdinand E. Marcos in 1975, workers should get or receive their 13th-month pay not later than December 24 every year.

Curada added that some employers give the mandatory payment in two tranches – the first half is given before classes start, usually in May, and the other half, days before Christmas Day.

“But the rule is, the employee has to have his/her 13th-month pay not later than December 24 every year,” he said.

All rank-and-file employees of a private company are entitled to 13th-month pay, provided they have been employed for at least one month within the calendar year.

On the other hand, companies are required to report to DOLE, through its Online Establishment Report Form not later than Jan. 15, 2023, on the settlement of the 13th-month pay.

Based on BWC data, it recorded a high compliance rate in the payment of 13th-month pay at 97.1 percent in 2021. (PNA)