SSS SICKNESS BENEFIT

 

SSS Sickness Benefit is a daily cash allowance paid to a member for the number of days he/she is unable to work due to sickness or injury.

How to qualify?

• Confinement either at home or in the hospital for at least four (4) days
• Paid at least three (3) monthly contributions within the 12-month period preceding the semester of sickness
• Has notified his employer; or if unemployed, has notified SSS
• Has used up all current company sick leave with pay

FIRST STEP:  Sickness Notification

Note: SSS has other advise/notification period during lockdown; ECQ or in case there is still a Covid -19 pandemic which causes the branch to close or stop their operation at their office.

In general, the following rules is being followed:

For Employed Members:

• Employee shall advise employer within 5 calendar days after the start of confinement
• Employer shall notify SSS within 5 calendar days form the receipt of employee notification
• If the employee notifies the employer beyond the prescribed five-day period, the confinement shall be deemed to have started not earlier than the fifth day immediately preceding the date of notification.
• If the employer notifies the SSS beyond five (5) calendar days after receipt of the notification from the employee, the employer shall be reimbursed only for each day of confinement starting from the 10th calendar day immediately preceding the date of notification to the SSS.
• If the employee has given the required notification to the employer, but the employer fails to notify the SSS of the confinement within the prescribed period resulting in the reduction of the benefit or denial of the claim, the employer shall have no right to recover the daily sickness allowance advanced to the employee.
• the employer must notify the SSS within ten (10) calendar days from the start of the employee’s sickness or injury while he was working or while he was within the company premises.

 If filed through Company Representative, the following documents should be forwarded to SSS:

·       System-generated Transmittal List (TL) or System-generated Acknowledgment Letter, if filed through Electronic Notification (three copies); or Employer TL (three copies)

·       Member’s Sickness Notification Application

·       Member’s identification card/s or document/s (photocopy)

·       All attached medical documents and reports, if any;

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·       ​​A Medical Specialist shall determine other required medical documents based on a separate checklist.

Amount of Benefit

The daily cash allowance is equivalent to 90% of the average daily salary credit

 Computation of Benefit

• Exclude the semester of sickness/contingency
• Select the 3-6 highest Monthly Salary Credits within the last 12 months preceding the semester of contingency to arrive at the Total Monthly Salary Credit (TMSC)
• Divide the TMSC by 180 to get the Average Daily Salary Credit (ADSC)
• Multiply the ADSC by 90%, then further multiply it by the approved number of days (maximum period of entitlement is 120 days in one calendar year)

  Online Sickness Notification via SSS website

• Employer must have a registered My.SSS account ;
• Employer is enrolled in the Sickness and maternity Benefit Payment Thru-the-Bank Program and has a registered bank account;
• Has an approved SSS notification that is included in the SBRA claim; and
• Employer has a certification to advance the sickness benefit of the employee according to their sickness notification

 How to file SBRA for your employees via SSS website

1. Log in to My.SSS account (sss.gov.ph) and click Employer
2. Encode your User ID and Password then tick box for the captcha
3. Under E-Services, click Submit SS Sickness Benefit Reimbursement Application (SBRA)
4. Encode the SS number of the employee. Then select Claim Reference Number button from the list of approved sickness notifications (ex: confinement period, number of days approved) Then click Proceed
5. Enter other needed information then click the certification box. Then click Submit.
6. Confirmation page will be displayed. Make sure to get a copy of your Transaction Reference Number (TRN)
7. Confirmation of successful SBRA will also be sent via the registered email of the employer.

 Manner of Payment & Reimbursement for Employed Members

1. Once employer successfully sent the sickness notification, employer shall advance the benefit every regular payday of the employee
2. The amount advanced will be reimbursed 100% by the SSS thru employer’s depository bank.

 

Reference: SSS website

 

 

SSS OR SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM - GOVERNMENT MANDATORY BENEFIT

 

SSS or Social Security System is one that I did not appreciate when I was just starting as an employee. I bet all newbies and fresh graduates who happened to get their first job could relate to me especially if this was not explained well to them during their orientation. I disliked it because it is one of the deductions that I see in my payslip but never did I understand that it is also my gain, only that it is being deposited in my fund… for my future when I can no longer work as an employee.

 

So for the young employees out there, you’re so lucky because our SSS contributions nowadays have gone higher especially the employer’s part of contribution. So what does that mean? It means the higher contribution you have ( both your own and your employer’s share ), the higher retirement benefit / and other related benefit you could get in the future. That is because most of the computations of the benefits are based on the amount that we have invested while we were employed.

 

On top of that retirement benefit, below are the other benefits which we can enjoy being a member of the Social Security System.

 

1.    Sickn​ess.

2.    Maternity

3.    Disability

4.    Death

5.    Funeral

6.    Unemployment

7.    Salary Loan

8.    Calamity Loan

9.    Educational Assistance Loan

10. Housing Loan

11. Retirement

 

We will tackle each of these SSS benefits in my next writing. ‘till then. Happy Easter and I am happy to get back and relive this blog…

NEW SSS CONTRIBUTION IN 2014

This news has been released early in May or June of this year but was finally announced and confirmed last October 2013.

It is confirmed that a 0.6 percent hike in SSS contribution will take effect in the coming year. Starting January 2014 the employee will have a share of 3.63% in the contribution and the employer with a share of 7.37%. The monthly salary credit or MSC will increase to PHP 16,000.00 per month.

Such increase in payment or contribution will result to increase in benefits. The maternity benefit is one example. Since the monthly salary credit increases as the contribution increases, then that will result to a higher computation of the said benefit. The maternity is being computed based on the monthly salary credit.

WHAT TO DO WITH EXCESS LEAVES?

If  a company have always practiced non-conversion and non forfeiture of its leaves and resulted in a number of excess-leaves, what is the best thing to do?

The scenario is that the company only provides the 10-VL SL. Due to non-treatment of excess leaves, employees have as much as 20+ leaves. Co. Wants to change this .

ANSWER:

It depends on what the management is willing to do and what is it that you want to convey to your employees. In other words, go back to your purpose: “ what is the reason for granting SL and VL to your employees?”

Do you want them to take a break and recharge from an exhausting work in order to have a better performance when they come back?

If you really want them to take a break, forfeiture of unused vacation leaves would be in order. This would compel them to use it. This way you put across the message that vacations are important to their well-being and that the company is looking out for them on this.

SL on the other hand should be treated differently. Unused SL could be monetized. This then serves as an incentive for them to keep themselves healthy, as the SL is actually savings for them. 

There are a number of ways to treat the excess, but the key is what do you (and management for that matter) want to do?

PHILHEALTH - ON REGISTERING AND REPORTING EMPLOYEES

Philhealth is one of the government mandatory benefits in the Philippines. It aims to provide medical assistance to nearly the entire population. It caters the five patient groups as : the workers; the Retirees; the OFWs; the indigents ; and the Non-poor and others.

Benefits package are the same for each group except for indigents and the OFWs who have additional outpatient primary care benefits.

Let’s leave it at that and now continue with the write-up on the formal sector since HR works for the  employed.

PHILHEALTH REGISTRATION FOR NEWLY HIRED AND EXISTING EMPLOYEES WITHOUT PIN YET

• Get a Philhealth Member Registration Form from the HR Department and fill it up.
• Attach the supporting documents for qualified dependents as: birth certificate for children and the marriage contract for spouse.
• Submit to HR Department. Better to have a receiving copies of your evidence in doing follow-ups.
• HR Department will then forward it to Philhealth office together with ER2 Form or Report of Employee Members.
• Then, Philhealth will send the Philhealth ID card and a copy of the Member Data Record to the member through his employer or the HR Department.

HR Department should be organized in keeping up this files of the employees since they are designated as the custodian.

PHILHEALTH FOR NEWLY HIRED EMPLOYEES WITH PIN

For newly-hired with PIN , he/she just have to report his PIN to the employer to indicate the same in ER2.

HR TO REPORT NEW AND SEPARATED EMPLOYEES TO PHILHEALTH

HR must be responsible enough to report the employees to Philhealth to ensure that they can get due benefits especially in times of need.

Newly – hired employees must be reported using the ER2 Form . Reporting must be done within 30 days of hiring date.

Separated employees must be reported using RF1 within 30 days from date of separation from the office.

LOW COST "PERKS" THAT HELP ATTRACT EMPLOYEES

When we ask an applicant in the interview on how much salary is he currently receiving, you may hear this response, “ I am receiving this ____________ amount as a basic salary plus other perks. If you would come to dig with it deeper, you would agree with me. Most of the times, there is no difference with the salary offerings of different companies but with the other benefits that they can offer? – It is really what makes them different. And it is that “other perks” which attract most of the applicants.

Below are some of the less expensive perks we can offer the employees:
1. Flexible time – it all depends on the kind of industry that we are in. If you found out that employees find it hard to make it on time at 7 am, then probably, it is too early for him and he can’t cope up with it. If said employee is of one of the potential talents and his position is considered as one of the hard-to-fill in, then it’s time to make a way I order to make him fit for the job. Consider adjusting his reporting time but be sure to make it 8 hours as required by the policy and the law.

2. Free Lunch – To foster teamwork and happiness in the workplace by way of celebration, why not offer a free even just once a week or once a month. This could be done along with the celebration of those who have birthdays for the month.

3. Pick and Drop – Free transportation can free the employees from worrying with everyday traffic and stress from commuting.

4. Gym Facilities – it is just a one-time investment which we can offer to employees. Make this sports or strengthening and healthy activities free for all employees during non-working hours and on weekends.

5. Libraries for leisure and learnings – encourage reading habits and learning sessions with the employees in order to make them at home even when they are at work.

6. Organize a family day – This will bring the employees including their families closer to the organization.
7. Livelihood Projects – This will interest old employees even the young ones who wants to be productive outside their works.

8. Summer Hours or Summer Days – Aside from the regular teambuildings during summer, give “one Friday” free for all employees. This to give them time with their family for their scheduled outings or summer escapades.

9. Free Chair Massage – Again, this is a “one time” investment which will benefit the employees to ease their back pains from sitting for just around 5 minutes. After that, they can go back to work with the feeling of comfort and relax.

10. Free snacks – Fill the kitchen or the pantry area with fruits, biscuits,  juice, coffee or milk. This will take out the employees from the burden of buying small time snacks and at the same time, it would reduce the office time spent outside the office by buying in the nearby convenience store.

Those are just a few of the perks that would attract talents and helped in retaining them. How about you? Any sharing on unique ideas that would help retain talented employees?

HIKE IN SSS CONTRIBUTION 2013

As mentioned in the last SONA (the 4^th one ever ) by the President of the Philippines, Noynoy Aquino held last July 22, 2013, there is a need to increase the SSS contribution to help in the reduction of unfunded liability.

Consequently, if the contribution of the members will increase, the pension scheme will have to be amended too.

The hike which was said to be around 0.6% was approved in principle by the Social Security Commission last March 16, 2013.

The matter is still under study and debate awaiting for further approval and implementation. Will post an update once fully approved.

DE MINIMIS BENEFITS - A BENEFIT WITH NO WITHHOLDING TAX

The economic crisis in the Past years have encouraged poor employees to be concerned about their salaries, more So, about the withholding tax being deducted from them which makes their net pay smaller than what they actually need.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has been very keen on helping the employers in resolving this issue. Benefits like “de minimis” which is tax exempt has been considered.

“ De minimis’ benefits are given to the employees by employers  in the nature of facilities or privileges . It is relatively of small value and are offered in order to promote health, goodwill, contentment, or efficiency of its employees.

‘ De Minimis ‘ benefits are excluded from the gross income when computing the income tax. It is also excluded in the computation of the P30, 0000 ceiling of ‘other benefits’. In In other words it is not taxable being relatively of small value.

The regulations have been introduced in the year 2000 by the Revenue Regulations No. 8 – 2000, underwent several amendments in year 2011 and the latest was in Revenue Regulations No. 8 – 2012 dated May 11, 2012.

‘ De Minimis’ benefits are a deductible salary expense to the employers while to the employees it is an additional salary which has no withholding tax.

Here is the list of the so-called ‘ De Minimis' which are given on top of the employees’ salary.

1. Monetized unused vacation leave credits of employees not exceeding ten days during the year and the monetized value of leave credits paid to government officials and employees

2. Medical cash allowance to dependents of employees not exceeding P750 per employee per semester or P125 Per month.

3. Rice subsidy of P 1,500or one sack of 50-kg. Rice per month amounting to not more than P 1, 500.

4. Uniforms and clothing allowance not exceeding P 4,000 per annum.

5. Actual yearly medical benefits not exceeding P10,000 per annum.

6. Laundry allowance not exceeding P300 per month.

7. Achievement awards like length of service or safety achievement, which must be in the form of a tangible personal property other than cash or gift certificate, with an annual monetary value not exceeding P10,000 received by the employee under an established written plan which does not discriminate in favor of highly paid employees.

8. Gifts given during Christmas and major anniversary celebrations not exceeding P5,000 per employee per annum.

9. Flowers, fruits, books or similar items given to employees under special circumstances e.g. on account of illness, marriage, birth of  a baby, etc.

10. Daily meal allowance for overtime work not exceeding 25 percent of the basic minimum wage.

Apart from the Above mentioned, employers may add ‘de minimis’ benefits to its employees but needed to study and prove that the said additional benefits other than the listed above , are reasonable and need to define what that additional benefit is all about and for what reason it should be given. In this case, the employer may consider giving de minimis benefits which are not taxable in lieu of the salary increase but employees would be happier if both would be granted.

REWARDS AND RECOGNITION

Business environments nowadays are getting more and more competitive. With the rise of similar companies with similar services and products, competing with them in terms of human resource is difficult. I remember, my experience in one of the multi-national Architectural Firm in Makati. With so many firms in the same industry in the city, employees just come and go. The question now is how can we keep these talented and hard to find talented manpower?

Rewards and Recognition are only a few of the answers. However, it should be implemented sincerely and effectively in order to achieve its best effect. Managers and team leaders should support one another in implementing this program. A culture or environment of trust has to be set-up prior to its orientation and full implementation so that in the end the following can be attained:

·         Employee Satisfaction

·         Employee Engagement or Loyalty especially of outstanding staff

·         Continuous learning

·         Positive work environment

·         Professional growth and development

PRINCIPLES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF REWARDS AND RECOGNITION

In order to be more effective , the following should be applied in administering this reward system:

·         Management should be true or genuine in giving the rewards to employees. It is not just to give but simply, more on recognizing their efforts in trying their best to contribute to the company’s success.

·         It should be a ceremonial one not just an ordinary gift giving. Make the day a memorable one to the staff who are witnessing the said event in order to motivate them, too to do the same as the awarded employee.

·         Lastly, it shouldn’t be exaggerated. Frequent evaluation of the program’s effectiveness must always be executed in order to study and know its flaws then, at the same to make some improvements, if needed so.

PURPOSE OF REWARDS AND RECOGNITION

·         To keep top employees in a competitive job market

·         To increase employee performance

     SAMPLES OF REWARDS AND RECOGNITION

·         No tardiness/no Late/ No Absent – Perfect Attendance Award

·         Achiever award for successfully implementing a new work or challenging special duty within the specified period of time.

·         Dangal ng company award – for a commendable virtue such as honesty and integrity.

·         Loyalty Award – as a recognition for over 5 years of service in the company.

All these awards are most effective when coupled with cash equivalent. So it’s up to the HR Department on how they can make a valuable mechanism for the system to become operational and of use and importance to the human resources.

The Thirteenth Month Pay (13th Month Pay)

Every time the  “ber” months are nearing, employees rejoice not just because of upcoming Christmas time but because it already signifies the month of giving the 13^th month pay which is a core labor standard in the Philippines. It is statutory that is why the employers are always reminded to release this benefit not later than 24^th of December of every year.

According to the Labor code, it is the 1/12 of the basic salary of an employee within the calendar year. ½ of the salary includes all remunerations or earnings paid by an employer to the employee for the services the latter rendered and may also include  allowances or monetary benefits which are considered  or integrated as part of the regular or basic salary. Examples of earnings that may not be included in the basic salary are : cost of living allowances, profit-sharing payments, cash equivalent of unused leave credits, overtime pay, premium pay , night differential, holiday pay, etc. Please note however, that in some companies they do include these in the computation of the 13^th month pay because of the result of collective bargaining agreement, this had been the practice since time immemorial and cannot be changed as changes may result to diminution of benefits or because of management prerogative.

All rank and file employees are entitled to 13^th month pay provided they have served the company for at least one month.

Report of Compliance

Per law, every employer must submit a report to DOLE Regional Office not later than January 15 of each year. It is called Report on compliance with PD No. 851.

Included in the said report is the following:

1. Name of establishment
2. Address
3. Principal product or business
4. Total employment
5. Total number of workers benefited
6. Amount granted per employee
7. The total amount of benefits granted
8. Name, position and telephone number of the person giving the information