DOLE issues pay rules for December 24 and 25 2015 Christmas holidays
Filipinos will have four straight non-working days as the nation joins the world in marking the Christmas Day this December 25, Friday.
As in the past, President Benigno Aquino III also declared December 24 a special non-working holiday to give Pinoys more time to spend with their respective families via Proclamation 831 which he signed last year. In effect, there will only be three working days during that week – December 21, 22, and 23.
In connection to that, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz released an advisory last December 15 reminding employers all over the country of the need for them to follow the pay rules during these days. It must be emphasized at this point that because December 24 is a special non-working holiday while December 25 is a regular holiday, the pay rules governing them are not the same.
For December 24, the so-called “no work, no pay” principle will apply to employees who did not go to work for whatever reason, unless there is a favorable company policy or collective bargaining agreement which states otherwise.
Those who will report for work, meanwhile, shall be paid an additional 30 percent of their daily rate for the first eight hours and an additional 30 percent of the hourly rate for overtime work.
On the other hand, employees are required to be paid in full for December 25 even if they do not report for work. For those who do (e.g. employees working in the business process outsourcing industry), then they shall be paid 200 percent of the salary for the first eight hours of service rendered. This is referred to as “double pay” in common parlance.
As a final point, it must be stressed that DOLE explicitly mandates that workers will only receive their holiday premium if they are present or is on official leave of absence with pay on the work day that immediately comes before the holiday.
For example, you went AWOL on December 23, you are not entitled to receive a holiday premium for December 24. DOLE’s Handbook on Statutory Monetary Benefits (2014 edition) can be downloaded through this link.
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