The Department of Labor and Employment on Thursday ordered private companies to release the deferred holiday pay of their workers before the end of the year.
“This advisory shall apply to all employers in the private sector that deferred the holiday pay on account of the existence of a national emergency arising from the COVID-19 situation,” the agency said in an advisory signed by Secretary Silvestre Bello III.
The order covers the holiday pay for previous regular holidays such as April 9 (Araw ng Kagitingan and Holy Thursday), April 10 (Good Friday), May 1 (Labor Day), May 25 (Eid’l Fitr), June 12 (Independence Day), July 31 (Eid’l Adha) and Aug. 31 (National Heroes’ Day).
The order also covers the holiday pay for the past special non-working days such as April 11 (Black Saturday), Aug. 21 (Ninoy Aquino Day), Nov. 1 (All Saints’ Day) and Nov. 2 (All Souls’ Day).
It also orders employers to release the holiday pay of those who will work on Nov. 30 (Bonifacio Day), a regular holiday.
“Employers who were allowed to defer the payment of the holiday pay of their employees as referred herein are required to pay all covered employees of the deferred holiday pay equivalent to 100-percent of their daily wage,” the department said.
It said the covered employers should pay the qualified employees their deferred holiday pay on or before Dec. 31.
The department earlier allowed the deferment of the holiday pay to help companies recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.