THE business sector called on the labor department for an equitable agreement on the issuance of 13th month pay.
Dr. Gil Bautista, Rotary Club of Baguio Summer Capital (RCBSC) Charter president and business owner, said employees might not be able to receive rightful monetary benefits if business owners are forced to file for bankruptcy for not being able to raise 13th month pay requirements due to lost revenue.
"I hope that we should all help each other so as not to force business establishment owners to close due to bankruptcy. In Baguio City since March, we did not have any tourists and who would support us? We should also remember that Baguio City is an educational center where 85 percent of the students in the city are not from Baguio and if we force the different enterprises to comply with just the technicalities of the 13th month pay, we might be pushing some of these enterprises to closure and that would be a lost," Bautista said.
The law defines 13th month pay as "1/12th" of the basic salary of an employee within a calendar year. The basic salary includes all earnings paid by employers for services rendered, but excludes all monetary benefits, which are not integrated as part of the regular basic pay.
The benefit can be greater than a month's basic pay but not less.
"We hope that the labor department and the labor groups and management would really come down and see how to come up with something that will be good for the employees," Bautista added.
The law also indicates that regardless of the position and the wage mode, employees in the private sector are entitled to 13th month pay provided that they have worked for at least a month during the calendar period.
Employers are required to submit to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) a report on compliance with the law not later than January 15 of each year.
Baguio businessman and RCBSC president Elect Steve Cating, who considers his business enterprise under a distressed category, is waiting on government to allow the business sector to determine what the 13th month pay is supposed to be.
"I reiterate [what Dr. Gil stated] that we should come up with a fair and equitable agreement for all concerned because personally, I am already delving into my savings to be able to help my employees to which I consider myself as a small company with 130 employees and how many of those I can help by the end of December is going to be the question which is why we are appealing to the national and local government to provide as much assistance and fair play in how we determine 13th month pay going forward," Cating said.