The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) announced last week that employers are allowed to defer payment of holiday pay on May 1.
In a labor advisory released Thursday, the agency conceded to the financial setbacks that companies have incurred brought by the COVID-19 pandemic and as a way to provide relief, it decided that employers are allowed to temporarily defer payment of holiday pay.
The temporary deferment is only during the pandemic until the lifting of the state of national emergency and normal operations of the establishment are finally in place.
Establishments that completely closed or halted operations during the community quarantine period are exempted from the payment of holiday pay.
The labor advisory is in line with the Proclamation no. 845 issued by President Rodrigo Duterte on November 15, 2019 regarding the holiday pay of employees which was applied last May 1.
Employees who did not work on May 1, or were present or on leave with pay on April 30 shall be paid 100% of their wage on that day.
Employees who were present and were working last May 1 shall be paid 200% of their wage on that day for the first eight hours.
If the regular holiday falls on the employees’ rest day and they decide to work on that day, they shall be paid an additional 30% of their basic wage of 200%.
For those who had overtime work, or worked for more than eight hours, they shall be paid an additional 30% of their hourly rate on that day in addition to the 200% if it was a regular holiday, and/or 30% if the regular holiday falls on the employee’s rest day.
