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What are the requirements for deducting the value of facilities?

Article 97 of the Labor Code provides that:

“Wage” paid to any employee shall mean the remuneration or earnings, however designated, capable of being expressed in terms of money, whether fixed or ascertained on a time, task, piece, or commission basis, or other method of calculating the same, which is payable by an employer to an employee under a written or unwritten contract of employment for work done or to be done, or for services rendered or to be rendered and includes the fair and reasonable value, as determined by the Secretary of Labor and Employment, of board, lodging, or other facilities customarily furnished by the employer to the employee. “Fair and reasonable value” shall not include any profit to the employer, or to any person affiliated with the employer. (Emphasis supplied.)

Facilities refer to items of expense necessary for the existence and subsistence of the employee and his/her family so that, by express provision of law, they form part of the wage and when furnished by the employer are deductible therefrom.

The value of the facilities may be deducted from the wage or salary of the employee since if these items are not furnished by the employer, the employee would have to spend and pay for them just the same.