The 13th month: Where in Europe do employers give Christmas bonuses?

The 13th month is a tradition that began in the Philippines in the 1970s and has since spread across the globe.

In order to reward employees for their year’s work, as well as to help with festive expenses, bosses began to offer an extra paycheck in December, which was equivalent to one month’s salary.

Fast-forward 50 years, and the 13th month bonus has now become a legal requirement in many Latin American countries, where it’s known as an 'aguinaldo'.

Across the pond in Europe, the tradition is nonetheless a little less common.

The European approach to 13th month salaries is a complex picture because reward policies are often company- or industry-specific.

That said, in Portugal, Spain, Greece and Italy, most employees are legally entitled to a winter holiday bonus, generally equal to one month’s salary.

In Portugal, this applies to both public and private sector workers, although the Christmas reward is called a 14th month bonus, and the 13th month refers to a mandatory summer payout.

In Spain, employers are similarly required to offer two extra bonuses per year, and one should be offered during the Christmas period.

The timing of the second bonus, as well as the amount of money given for both, is negotiated under so-called 'Collective Bargaining Agreements'.

These Bargaining Agreements, negotiated between trade unions and employers, are non-legislative written agreements, but they often carry as much weight as employment laws.

To travel across the Mediterranean to Greece, many workers receive legally mandated Christmas and summer bonuses, but the situation varies between the public and private sectors.

In the Greek private sector, workers are entitled to a mandatory additional salary at Christmas, half an additional salary at Easter, and half an additional salary in the summer.

In the public sector, however, workers haven’t been receiving these bonuses since 2012, a measure introduced to support the Greek economy after the financial crash.

Eirini Hamiti, a employment lawyer with Kremalis in Athens, told Euronews Business: "The abolition of the 13th and 14th month bonuses for civil servants provoked a series of reactions from all employees, who argued that they