LABOR STANDARDS LAW

I. Labor legislation

a. Labor standards that which sets out the least or
basic terms conditions and benefits of employment
that employers must provide or comply with and to
which employees are entitled to as a matter of
right.

b. Labor relations that which defines the status,
rights and duties and the institutional mechanisms
that govern the individual and collective
interactions of employers and employees.
Example:
Grievance machinery is a labor relations mechanism, while the
subject of the complaint is labor standards such as unpaid overtime
work.
Labor standards = material of the substance to be processed
Labor relations = mechanism that processes the substance

II. Labor and social legislation

a. Social legislation those laws that provide
particular kinds of protection or benefits to society
or segments thereof in furtherance of social justice
b. Therefore, Labor laws are social legislation.

III. Social Justice defined
Calalang vs. Williams:
Social justice is neither communism, nor despotism,
nor atomism, nor anarchy, but the humanization of
laws and the equalization of social and economic forces
by the State so that justice in its rational and objectively
secular conception may at least be approximated.

IV. Constitutional mandates ( Refer to first labor file)

V. Police power as the basis

The right of every person to pursue a business,
occupation or profession is subject to the paramount
right of the government as a part of its police power to
impose such restrictions and regulations as the
protection of the public may require.





HISTORY OF THE LABOR CODE
1968 Minister of Labor Blas F. Ople Father of the Labor Code
Objectives:
1. Consolidate existing pieces of labor legislation
2. Reorient them to the needs of economic development and
justice
After seven times of drafting and redrafting:
April 28, 1973 ratified by a National Tripartite Congress
May 1, 1973 submitted to the President
May 1, 1974 signed into law as PD No. 442
November 1, 1974 took effect; earlier amended by PD No. 570-A

LABOR LAW
1. Justification: Social Justice

PLDT vs. NLRC

Separation pay shall be allowed as a measure of social
justice only in those instances where the employee is validly
dismissed for causes other than serious misconduct or those
reflecting on his moral character.


2. Foundation or basis: Police Power of the State

St. Lukes Med vs. NLRC:

While the right of workers to security of tenure is
guaranteed by the Constitution, its exercise may be
reasonably regulated pursuant to the police power of the
State to safeguard health, morals, peace, education, order,
safety, and the general welfare of the people.


3. Ultimate Goal: Industrial Peace
Calalang vs. Williams
Social justice means the promotion of the welfare of all the
people, the adoption by the Government of measures
calculated to insure economic stability of all the competent
elements of society

4. Management prerogative/State regulation
Ymbong vs. ABS-CBN
So long as a companys management prerogatives are
exercised in good faith for the advancement of the
employers interest and not for the purpose of defeating or
circumventing the rights of the employees under special
laws or under valid agreements, the Court will uphold
them.
Negros Slashers vs. Teng
It is elementary doctrine that the penalty must be
commensurate with the act or omission imputed to the
employee and must be imposed in connection with the
disciplinary authority of the employer.

5. Social Justice vis--vis management prerogative

Coca-Cola vs. Gacayna
The only criterion to guide the exercise of its management
prerogative is that the policies, rules and regulations on
work-related activities of the employees must always be fair
and reasonable and the corresponding penalties
commensurate to the offense involved and to the degree of
the infraction.

6. Balancing of Interests
HEPI vs. NUWHRAIN
The labor laws of the land allow retrenchment or
downsizing as a valid exercise of management prerogative if
all else fails.



Legal Basis
1. 1987 Constitution

a. Right to security of tenure
Art. 3. Declaration of basic policy. The State shall afford protection
to labor, promote full employment, ensure equal work
opportunities regardless of sex, race or creed and regulate the
relations between workers and employers. The State shall assure
the rights of workers to self-organization, collective bargaining,
security of tenure, and just and humane conditions of work.
Protection to labor
Promotion of full employment
Equal work opportunities
Regulation of relations
^Social issues. Labor laws = devices for social equity
Labor laws, explain partly why a nation is poor or why a country is
competitive or not in the global market.
Study of labor law study of socio-economic problems affecting the
worker, his work life and his co-players in the work environment
Goals of the national economy:
1. More equitable distribution of opportunities, income and
wealth
2. Sustained increase in the amount of goods and services
produced by the nation for the benefit of the people
3. An expanding productivity as the key to raising the quality
of life for all
Art. 3 should be viewed not as a policy that favors labor to the
prejudice of capital but as a balance between the rights and
interests of both workers and employers.
Art. XIII Sec. 3 Par. 2
The State shall promote the principle of shared responsibility
between workers and employers and the preferential use of
voluntary modes in settling disputes, including conciliation, and
shall enforce their mutual compliance therewith to foster industrial
peace.

b. Right to humane conditions of work
Art. 3, LC
Art. XIII Sec. 3 Par. 2

c. Right to a living wage
Art. XIII Sec. 3 Par. 2
Art. XV Sec. 1. The State recognizes the Filipino family as the
foundation of the nation. Accordingly, it shall strengthen its
solidarity and actively promote its total development.
Art. XV Sec. 3 (3) The State shall defend:
The right of the family to a family living wage and income;

2. Civil Code
Art. 19. Every person must, in the exercise of his rights and in the
performance of his duties, act with justice, give everyone his due,
and observe honesty and good faith.
Art. 20. Every person who, contrary to law, wilfully or negligently
causes damage to another, shall indemnify the latter for the same.
Art. 21. Any person who wilfully causes loss or injury to another in
manner that is contrary to morals, good customs or public policy
shall compensate the latter for the damage.
Art. 1700. The relations between capital and labor are not merely
contractual. They are so impressed with public interest that labor
contracts must yield to the common good. Therefore, such
contracts are subject to the special laws on labor unions, collective
bargaining, strikes and lockouts, closed shop, wages, working
conditions, hours of labor and similar subjects.
Art. 1701. Neither capital nor labor shall act oppressively against
the other, or impair the interest or convenience of the public.

3. Labor Code and Omnibus Rules Implementing the Labor
Code

4. International Conventions, Recommendations
Art. II, Sec. 2 The Philippines renounces war as an instrument of
national policy, adopts the generally accepted principles of
international law as part of the law of the land and adheres to
the policy of peace, equality, justice, freedom, cooperation, and
amity with all nations.