Amendment to Alimony Law Grants More Time to Pay Christmas Bonus

New Legislation Enacted

Author: Marco Arias, Partner - BDS, Member of Littler Global

Law No. 9788, which was published and came into effect on December 12, 2019, amends the Alimony Law to allow debtors to pay the Christmas Bonus (called Aguinaldo) until December 21 of each year. Prior to this reform, all alimony debtors had until December 15 to pay the Aguinaldo to the beneficiary (former spouse, child, dependent, etc.), but employers had until December 20 to pay employees the Thirteenth Month (also called Aguinaldo). Thus, debtors in some cases had to pay an extra installment of their alimony without having received their Christmas Bonus.

National Wages Council Approves Increase to Minimum Wages

New Order or Decree

Author: Marco Arias, Partner - BDS, Member of Littler Global

On October 23, 2019, the National Wages Council approved a 2.53% increase to the minimum wage for all private sector employees. An additional increase of 2.339% was approved for domestic employees, to continue the trend of closing the gap between their minimum wage and that of other employees. These increases become effective on January 1, 2020, and are mandatory for all employees earning minimum wage, or whose wage would fall below the new minimum.