The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Thursday said it would go after some 1,300 companies that may have been remiss in paying the 13th-month pay of their employees last year.
In a television interview, Labor Undersecretary Ana Dione said these companies were among those they inspected last year.
She said they would be issuing a compliance order to compel the said companies to pay the benefit as mandated by Presidential Decree 851.
Most or 16,000 of the inspected firms in 2020 were still able to pay the 13th-month benefit of their workers despite economic disruptions caused by the novel coronavirus disease pandemic.
Dione said they hope these companies would still be able to pay the said benefit to their workers this year despite the lingering economic effects of the pandemic through the intervention of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
DTI’s Small Business Corporation already announced it would once again extend this year zero-interest loans to micro and small firms to help them pay the 13th month of their workers.
“To the employers, despite our hard situation this year, let us not forget this obligation [13th-month pay], which is stated under the law,” Dione said.
The 13th-month pay is equivalent to the total salary earned by a worker in a year divided by 12 months. It should be paid before December 24 of every year.