Legal Bonus Service December of 2024
Who receives the service bonus?
The service bonus is a social benefit to which every worker is entitled as a dependent employee with an employment relationship, regardless of the type or duration of the contract, and which every employer, whether a company or a natural person, is obliged to recognise and pay. The value of this benefit corresponds to one month's salary for each year of services rendered and proportionally for each fraction of a year and is regulated by article 306 of the substantive labour code.
Domestic service workers, who perform cleaning, cleaning, cooking, farm care among others, are entitled to the recognition and payment of the service bonus, the law 1788 of 2016 is the law that guarantees the right to this social benefit.
Workers not entitled to legal bonus service
It is not paid to workers who provide services through contracts for the provision of services, as they are included in the category of independent workers. Nor is it paid to apprentices under apprenticeship contracts, since, as indicated above, it is received by dependent workers.
For workers whose salary type is Integral, the service bonus shall not be paid, this value shall be included in the 30% of the benefit factor, this salary shall not be less than 13 legal minimum salaries in force.
When is the service bonus paid?
The service bonus corresponds to thirty (30) days' salary per year. This shall be recognised in two payments during the year and shall be proportional to the days worked per semester:
• First period: 1 January to 30 June (last payment deadline).
• Second period: 1 July to 30 December (latest payment deadline 20 December).
If the employment relationship ends before the payment deadlines, this value must be included in the settlement of the employment contract.
How is the legal bonus service paid for?
To calculate the bonus, all the salary concepts earned by the worker in the period to be paid are taken as a basis and averaged for the days worked in the six-month period
For the purpose of calculating the premium, if the salary is fixed the last monthly salary earned by the monthly salary earned by the worker, provided that that has not undergone any variation, if the salary is variable or has undergone a variation all the payments received in the six-month period received in the six-month period.
Where the employee receives payments of a salary nature, these should be included in the calculation of the legal bonus service:
• Surcharges
• Overtime
• Commissions
• Bonuses and/or salary allowances
Withholding at source on the Legal Bonus Service:
The service bonus, being an employment income, must be subject to withholding at source as wages or employment income. This withholding will depend on the withholding procedure used, of which there are two: procedure 1 and procedure 2.
• When procedure 1 is used, it must be done separately, deducting 25% for exempt income from the labour income, to the resulting base apply the table as indicated in article 383 of the E.T. to obtain the value to be withheld.
• When procedure 2 is used, the value of the service bonus is included in the total of the labour payments, and the fixed withholding percentage is applied, without having to make a separate settlement or apply the table of article 383 of the E.T.
Penalties for non-payment of the Legal Bonus Servicie:
Penalties for non-payment of premiums include:
• Imposition by the Ministry of Labour of fines, penalties and other measures in the exercise of its function of surveillance and control of compliance with the rules of labour law (Articles 485 and 486 of the CST).
• Failure to pay the premium may give rise to a reasoned resignation by the worker (Article 62, part ‘B’ of the CST) and give rise to a unilateral termination of the employment contract without just cause, which will entitle the worker to claim the corresponding compensation for damages before the labour court (Article 64 of the CST).
On the other hand, if at the end of the employment contract, the employer does not pay the worker the service bonus due, such non-compliance may give rise to the late payment penalty referred to in Article 65 of the CST.
Garnishment of the Legal Bonus Service?
As a general rule, social benefits are unattachable (Article 344 of the CST), i.e. no precautionary measure may be ordered to withhold their value in order to ensure the satisfaction of an obligation.
However, the aforementioned provision also provides that in the case of debts in favour of legally authorised savings and credit cooperatives or food obligations, a judge may order attachment or withholding of the worker's service bonus or severance pay, but not exceeding 50% of the value of the respective benefit.
Legal Bonus Service during the period of the worker's incapacity?
During the period of incapacity of the worker, the service bonus continues to be paid in the normal way, since incapacity is not a cause for suspension or termination of the employment contract.
Incapacity, whether of common or occupational origin, does not affect the calculation of social benefits. These must be calculated on the basis of the last basic salary earned by the worker prior to the start of the period of incapacity.
