How to calculate the Christmas bonus for 2022?

The aguinaldo It is a labor benefit protected by the Federal Labor Law (LFT) for more than five decades. It is a right that every worker with an employer has and its amount cannot be less than 15 days salary.

Article 87 of the LFT establishes that “workers shall have the right to a annual bonus to be paid before the day December 20thequivalent to fifteen days of salary, at least.

According to the Federal Attorney for the Defense of Labor (Profedet), all base, trust, plant, unionized, contracted for work or specific time, subject to initial testing or training, eventual, commission workers are entitled to this benefit. , commercial agents, insurance, sellers and others similar.

In addition to this, the LFT protects this right for workers who have not completed one year of service in a company, who must receive a proportional part for the time worked.

How to calculate the amount you should receive?

Although labor legislation indicates that the amount cannot be less than 15 days of salary, when a person worked less than a year in a company, they receive a proportional part, that is, they do not get a full fortnight.

For workers with a full year of service, the way to calculate the benefit is based on the monthly salary. For example, a person who receives 10,510 (two minimum wages) per month must divide this amount by 30 to obtain the daily salary, in this case, it is 350 pesos.

This average salary (350 pesos) is multiplied by 15 days, which is the legal minimum. That means that in this exercise, the person must receive a bonus of 5,250 pesos.

In the case of a person who does not have a full year of work, the formula for the calculation varies. Keeping the example of a worker with a salary of 10,510 per month, first you must get daily amount that you would receive as a bonus throughout the year, this is calculated taking into account the benefit that corresponds to you for a full year (5,250 pesos) and divided by the 365 days of the year, this means that your daily bonus is 14.3 pesos.

This daily value of the bonus is multiplied by the actual working time, in this case by 180, which are the days that the six months of service are equivalent to. As a result of this calculation, a worker with six months of service and an income of two minimum wages would have a bonus of 2,574 days.

According to Profedet, in the case of workers with variable salary, the daily income to calculate the benefit is obtained from the average of the income received in the last 30 days. On the other hand, for people hired as salesmen, commercial or insurance agents, propagandists and others, the daily salary to calculate the amount is the average of the remunerations received in the last year or in the proportional time, in case that the worker does not complete one year of service.

What if the bonus is not paid on time?

The deadline to receive the bonus is December 20. Employers who fail to comply with this obligation may receive a fine of between 4,811 and 48,110 pesos, this is applied for each worker affected and according to specialists in labor law, it does not eliminate compliance; that is, the employer who receives a sanction must pay it and cover the benefit.

Profedet indicates that workers have one year to request payment of the benefit. “In case of omission by the employer, by law, a conciliation hearing before the federal conciliation center or before the local conciliation center in order to avoid lengthy lawsuits and legal disputes”.

The authority points out that the temporary disabilities They are not a justification for reducing the Christmas bonus, that is, they are added as working time to calculate the amount that workers should receive.

“The bonus is a inalienable right of the workers regardless of the other benefits. In no case can the employer argue economic difficulties of the company or lack of profits for not paying it or reducing its amount, ”he points out.