The “Thirteenth-Month” Payment during the COVID-19 Pandemic

According to Cabinet Decree No. 221 of November 18^th, 1971, employers must pay their workers a special bonus called “Thirteenth Month”, consisting of a one-day salary for every eleven worked days or fraction of continuous or discontinuous work, payable in three equal consignments on: April 15^th, August 15^th and December 15^th every year.

This bonus is unattachable and is subject to income tax discounts and social security contributions. For the employer, it constitutes a deductible sum for tax purposes, as an expense in the production of income and is not subject to the payment of professional risks and any other tax, discount or charge.

For the purpose of calculating the amount to be paid as “the thirteenth month”, working days shall be considered as those days in which the worker has been unable to provide services due to professional illness, non-professional illness, work accident, maternity, leave and duly verified vacations.

In view of the foregoing, and in response to Executive Decree No. 500 of March 20^th, 2020, which decreed the closure of companies of legal and natural persons as of March 21^st, 2020, those workers who have been sent on expired and/or advanced vacations for a term of thirty (30) days or under the telework modality, will have the right to receive, on April 15^th, the full payment of the first consignment of the Thirteenth Month.

On the contrary, those workers whose contracts have been suspended as of March 21^st, 2020, based on the provisions of Cabinet Decree No. 221 of November 18^th, 1971, will have the right to receive the proportional payment to the first consignment of the “thirteenth month” for the days they actually worked; however, the Ministry of Labor is urging employers, in solidarity with their workers, to pay the first consignment of the Thirteenth Month in full.