Arts. 1–10

It is established as a mandatory labor benefit for every employer, in both the private sector and the public sector, the payment to its workers of an annual bonus equivalent to one ordinary wage or salary earned by the worker. This benefit is additional to and independent of the annual year-end bonus that must obligatorily be paid to the worker.

The annual bonus shall be equivalent to one hundred percent (100%) of the wage or ordinary salary earned by the worker in one month, for workers who have worked in the service of the employer for one uninterrupted year prior to the payment date. If the duration of the employment relationship is less than one year, the benefit shall be proportional to the time worked.

To determine the amount of the benefit, the average of the ordinary salaries or wages earned by the worker in the year ending in the month of June of each year shall be taken as the basis.

The bonus shall be paid during the first fortnight of the month of July of each year. If the employment relationship ends, for any cause, the employer shall pay the worker the proportional part corresponding to the time elapsed between the immediately preceding July 1 and the date of termination.

For the calculation of the compensation referred to in Article 82 of the Labor Code, the amount of the annual bonus accrued by the worker shall be taken into account, in the proportion corresponding to six months of services, or for the time worked, if such time were less than six months.

The provisions of Decrees Nos. 76-78 and 1633, both of the Congress of the Republic, with their respective amendments, shall apply suppletorily, according as the workers concerned are from the private sector or the public sector, respectively, in all matters that do not contradict this Decree.

The value of the annual bonus shall not be taken into account for determining the annual year-end bonus regulated by the laws establishing it.

Private-sector companies or employers requiring financial assistance to make effective the disbursement provided for in the preceding article of this law may resort to the financial institutions of the banking system requesting loans, which shall be granted at preferential rates and may be rediscounted at the Bank of Guatemala for a time limit of not more than six months. For this purpose, the Monetary Board shall as soon as possible issue the necessary provisions to make available to such financial institutions the lines of credit necessary for compliance with this article.

With respect to the year 1992, private-sector employers may pay the annual bonus referred to in this law and, for this one time only, until September 30 of the present year.

Decree number 57-90 of the Congress of the Republic is repealed.

This Decree was declared a matter of national urgency and approved in a single reading with the favorable vote of more than two-thirds of the total number of deputies comprising Congress and shall enter into force on the same day as its publication in the Official Gazette.