CEBU CITY, Philippines — While most individuals will observe April 9, 2020 at home, some workers, especially frontliners, will continue to work throughout this double holiday.
Maundy Thursday and the Philippines’ 78th Day of Valor (Araw ng Kagitingan), both regular holidays, fall on April 9.
The Department of Labor and Employment in Central Visayas (DOLE-7), in an advisory, reminded employers that the compensation for the two regular holidays will be credited separately.
This means that for persons who report to work on this day are entitled to receive 300 percent of their basic pay for the first eight hours of work.
The 300 percent may be broken down as a whole day of regular work, a whole day compensation credit for Day of Valor, and a whole day of compensation credit for Maundy Thursday observance.
The enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) that is in effect in the whole province, however, will have to be considered to determine the holiday pay of those who will not report for work during the double holiday.
DOLE-7 Regional Director Salome Siaton said those who will not be working will still receive 200 percent of their basic pay to cover the two regular holidays provided that they had work or was on paid leave a day before the ECQ took effect.
“The start and effectivity of the enhanced community quarantine declared in each province or city within Central Visayas must be considered by employers. That will signal them whether a worker who will not report to work on April 9 will be paid 200 percent of his or her daily wage rate or not,” said Director Siaton.
But considering the economic burden brought by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the labor department has earlier announced that employers may defer the payment for the holidays this April to a later period.
Read: DOLE allows delayed payment of holiday pay for April holidays
Among the April holidays are the regular holidays on Maundy Thursday and Day of Valor on April 9, Good Friday on April 10, and the Special Non-working holiday on Black Saturday, April 11.
Siaton, however, reminded employers that when things would have returned to normal, companies must adhere to the computation of wages of the workers for the the said holidays. /bmjo