Workers urged to call DOLE if they fail to receive 13th month pay

PIA Press Release
2010/12/08

Workers urged to call DOLE if they fail to receive 13th month pay
Iloilo City (8 December) -- Workers in the private sector were urged to call the Department of Labor and Employment Office if their employers failed to pay their mandatory 13th month pay this year.

Recently, Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz reiterated that it is the obligation of employers under the law, specifically Presidential Decree No. 851, to pay the 13th month benefit to all workers and employees.

Under PD No. 851, employers in the country are required to pay their workers' 13th month pay not later than December 24 of each year. They, however, may pay one half of the 13th month pay before the opening of the regular school year and the balance on or before December 24.

"If they are not paid, they can call our hotlines and tell us so," said Baldoz in a DOLE press report.

Baldoz had also instructed all DOLE national and regional officials to ensure that the hotline numbers are manned by competent staff to answer all calls from workers and even the general public.

In Western Visayas, workers can call the DOLE 6 regional office at (033) 3208026/3206904 or its provincial offices in Bacolod City at tel no. (034) 4342218/4342219, Iloilo City (033) 320-6905, Roxas City (036) 522-5220, Kalibo (036) 500-7107, and San Jose (036) 540-7067. (PIA/LAFrench)