Employees paid below the minimum wage

Sahora compares each active employee's pay with the minimum wage of their work place and tells you who is below it. This guide shows how to find them, raise them, or keep the reason on file when an exemption applies.

How Sahora decides

• The work place is the employee's branch when the branch has a region, else your company's default work place (see BIR details and your work place).
• The minimum wage is the one in force for that place in Sahora's statutory tables. See Statutory updates for new wage orders.
• Pay is compared as a daily rate. Monthly-paid employees are converted using your company's days a year.
• Employees whose work place has no minimum wage on file are not checked.

Find them

• The Employees page shows a notice listing each employee below the minimum, with their daily rate, the minimum and the place.
• The page Paid below the minimum wage lists them one by one. Open it from the notice's link "keep an exemption (BMBE, apprentice, learner) on file".
• Each payroll flags an employee paid below the minimum for the approver to review, until you raise their pay or keep a reason on file.

Raise them to the minimum wage

1. In the notice on the Employees page, click Raise them to the minimum wage. The Scheduled salary increase page opens with Minimum wage in force (from the statutory table) chosen.
2. Enter Effective from, then narrow down who if needed.
3. Click Preview, check the new rates and any wage distortion warning.
4. Click Apply to N employees.

See Salary changes and scheduled increases for the full steps.

Keep the reason on file

Some employees may lawfully be paid less, for example under an apprenticeship or learner agreement, or in a business with a BMBE certificate. For them:

1. Open Paid below the minimum wage.
2. Under the employee, type the Reason (for example, the apprenticeship agreement approved by TESDA), choose a supporting file, or both. Files can be PDF, JPEG or PNG, up to 5 MB.
3. Click Save. You see "Saved. Payrolls from now on note it instead of flagging it."

Either the reason or the file is enough. To see the file again, click Open the file. To take the reason and file off the record, click Remove; payrolls flag the employee again.

The page shows how many employees are still without a reason or file, and each card shows the date the reason was put on file.

What can go wrong

• "Write the reason in 3 to 500 characters.": the reason is too short or too long.
• "Only PDF, JPEG or PNG files." or "The file is over 5 MB.": choose another file.
• "Write the reason, attach a supporting file, or both.": you clicked Save with nothing filled in.

Good to know

• Only owners and payroll officers see this page and can save a reason.
• A wage order exemption certificate (RTWPB) or a BMBE certificate for the whole company goes in Company setup → Minimum wage exemptions, which changes the check itself. See Special cases.
• Whether an exemption applies to an employee is for you to decide. Check with your labor adviser if you are unsure.