Christmas day is coming in less than 30 days from now and as usual, every employee is looking forward to that yearly
Christmas bonus given by the employer.
One day, I was with a couple of friends talking about what we would do with our Christmas bonus and one of our friends said that we were very lucky to receive one and he did not.
I asked why? he answered because it had been like that for a long time.
I wondered why some companies do not give Christmas bonuses.
I asked somebody from our personnel department why some employees do not receive a Christmas bonus.
He explained that not all employees are qualified to receive a Christmas bonus. There is no law mandatorily requiring an employer to pay a Christmas bonus but there is a law called 13th month pay law that requires the employer to pay their employees not later than December 24 of each year.
But even then, he explained, there are certain instances when an employer is exempt from paying the 13th month's pay and they are the following:
Exempted Employers
1. The Government and any of its political subdivisions, including government-owned and controlled corporations, except those corporations operating essentially as private subsidiaries of the Government;
2. Employers already paying their employees a 13th-month pay or more in a calendar year or its equivalent at the time of this issuance:
Its Equivalent: includes Christmas bonus, mid-year bonus, cash bonuses, and other payments amounting to not less than 1/12 of the basic salary but shall NOT INCLUDE cash and stock dividends, cost of living allowances, and all other allowances regularly enjoyed by the employee as well non-monetary benefits.
3. Employers of household helpers and persons in the personal service of another relation to such workers and;
4. Employers of those who are paid on purely commission, boundary, or task basis and those who are paid a fixed amount for performing specific work, except where the workers are paid on piece-rate basis in which case the employer shall grant the required 13th month pay to such workers.
We are very lucky indeed that in addition to our 13th-month pay, we also receive a Christmas bonus equivalent to half our monthly salary.
A
Christmas Bonus is money given in addition to an employee's usual compensation.
It may be given as a gratuity, as an act of liberality. But a Christmas bonus is demandable as a matter of right if it is made a legal obligation by law or in a collective bargaining agreement or in a contract of employment or by its having been given for such a long time that the receipt of a bonus has ripened into a right.
When I came to work with my company, the Christmas bonus was already given yearly so it might be a result of a collective bargaining agreement or perhaps it has been given by my
company for a very long time even before I came to work that it has ripened into a right.
