DoLE issues holiday pay rules

The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) on Monday reminded employers that workers required to work during regular holidays — like Araw ng Kagitingan tomorrow and Eid al-Fitr on Thursday — must be paid double their usual rates.

“The regular holiday when you come in to work, they have to pay you 200 percent. But there is a condition, either you must come in today or file a leave with pay,” Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said in Filipino in a radio interview.

He explained that work contracts usually have provisions stating adherence to existing labor standards, including the payment of holiday, 13th-month, and overtime remuneration.

The exception, he said, would be for workers whose contracts state exactly what their fixed pay is regardless of other factors.

In Labor Advisory 5 issued on Friday, DoLE reminded employers to follow the pay rules. For work rendered on a regular holiday, employees are entitled to 200 percent of their daily wage for the first eight hours.

If employees work beyond eight hours, they will receive an additional 30 percent of the hourly rate on top of the 200 percent.

Employees who work on a regular holiday that also falls on their rest day should be paid an additional 30 percent of their basic daily wage on top of the 200 percent holiday pay, he said.

On the other hand, workers should also receive an additional 30 percent of their hourly rate for any overtime hours worked.

The Day of Valor, celebrated every 9th of April, honors the sacrifice and bravery of the soldiers who fought in the Battle of Bataan in 1942 during World War 2.

Eid al-Fitr, on the other hand, is celebrated by Muslims worldwide, to mark the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan.