Hefty holiday pay for Holy Week workers

MANILA, Philippines - Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz clarified yesterday that workers who work on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Black Saturday are entitled to additional pay.

Baldoz said that Maundy Thursday and Good Friday have been declared as regular holidays nationwide, thus workers are entitled to receive double or 200 percent of their daily basic pay.

She said workers who would report for work on Black Saturday would get an additional 30 percent or a total of 130 percent of their daily basic pay.

She reminded employers to ensure that workers who would render regular services on these days would get additional pay.

Baldoz said under the law workers are entitled to receive 200 percent of their daily basic pay in the first eight hours of work and another 30 percent per hour of overtime.

She said employees who choose not to work on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Black Saturday are still entitled to get their full daily basic pay.

If the holiday falls on the workers’ day off, the first eight hours would be paid 230 percent of his or her daily rate plus 30 percent for work rendered overtime.

Meanwhile, Sen. Miriam Defensor- Santiago filed a bill to increase the ceiling of the Christmas bonus to be taxed and other tax breaks to more employees, after the government ruled out any wage hike on May 1 as prices continue to rise.

Under the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC), a P30,000 ceiling is provided for exemptions from the tax on gross income for the 13th month pay and other benefits such as the Christmas bonus and productivity incentives.

Anything that an employee receives beyond P30,000 would be subjected to the income tax.

Santiago, in her Senate Bill 2739, called for an amendment of the NIRC to increase the ceiling to P40,000, which might be increased through rules and regulations issued by the Secretary of Finance, upon the recommendation of the Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner “after considering among others, the effect on the same of the inflation rate at the end of the taxable year.”

“This bill seeks to provide Filipinos reprieve from the worsening economic condition in the country given that labor laws still need to be reformed to really address the real economic condition of our workers and employees in the country, more than the business companies,” Santiago said.

“Bonuses and other additional benefits come only once a year and in a time when prices of commodities increase because of the demand for more food on the table to celebrate the season, it would mean a lot to the minimum wage earners to be relieved from additional tax burdens for their Christmas bonuses and other benefits,” she added.

Santiago said that the salaries of most employees are generally low when compared to the cost of living standards set by the government in the country.

The National Statistical Coordination Board’s 2008 data indicated that a family of six in the National Capital Region would need P917 a day to live decently.

Santiago pointed out that in 2008, the highest minimum wage in the NCR was only P382 a day and two years later, this was increased to a mere P404 a day.

“Wages lag way behind the family living wage because the law only allows one wage increase per year while the prices of basic commodities from gasoline to food have been shooting up to heights more and more Filipinos are not able to cope with,” Santiago said.

Citing the results of a Social Weather Stations survey in March 2010, 43 percent or an estimated 8.1 million families rated themselves as poor.

“Although the government sees this is as an improvement from the previous years, it is still a significant figure at 48 million people,” Santiago said. – With Marvin Sy