LABOR LAW REVIEW

Labor standards – norms set by law that must be observed, or else, the act is substandard. They refer to terms and
conditions of employment that employers must comply with and to which employees are entitled as a matter of legal
right. Eg. Wages, hours of work, cost of living allowance, etc.
Labor relations – defines the status, rights and duties and institutional mechanisms that govern the individual and
collective interactions of employers, employees, or representatives.
Labor Code- set of substantive and procedural laws that prescribe the principal rights and responsibilities of the industrial
participants so as to institute social justice.
Article 3 – The state shall afford protection to labor, promote full employment, ensure equal work opportunities regardless
of sex, race, 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.
**All doubts in the implementation and interpretation of the provisions of the Code shall be resolved in favor of labor.
Basic rights of workers
1. To organize themselves
2. To conduct collective bargaining or negotiation with management
3. To engage in peaceful concerted activities, including strike in accordance with law
4. To enjoy security of tenure
5. To work under humane conditions
6. To receive a living wage
7. To participate in decision and policy-making processes affecting their rights and benefits
Rights of the Management
1. Right to return of investments and to make profit
2. Right to prescribe rules
3. Right to select employees
4. Right to transfer or discharge employees
Note: Management rights are subject to restrictions provided by law, contract, and general principles of fair play and
justice.
Article 6: All rights and benefits granted to workers under this Code shall, except as may otherwise be provided, apply
alike to all workers, whether agricultural or non-agricultural.
Note: Employment relationship is not a pre-condition to the applicability of the Labor Code.
Recruitment and Placement – refers to any act of canvassing, enlisting, contracting, transporting, utilizing, hiring, or
procuring workers, and includes referrals, contract services, promising or advertising for employment, locally or abroad,
whether for profit or not; Provided that any person or entity which, in any manner, offers or promises for a fee
employment to two or more persons shall be deemed engaged in recruitment and placement.
DOLE’s primary responsibilities:
1. Promotion of gainful employment opportunities and the optimization of the development and utilization of
country’s manpower services
2. Advancement of workers’ welfare for providing just and humane working conditions and terms of employment
3. Maintenance of industrial peace
Classification of OFWs:
1. Sea-based – work pertains to ship operations like navigation, engineering, maintenance, including a variety of
occupations
2. Land-based - contract workers other than a seaman including workers engaged in offshore activities whose
occupation requires that a majority of his working hours are spent on land
Note: The POEA is the major agency regulating overseas employment.
Functions:
1. Formulation, implementation and monitoring of policies and programs on overseas employment of Filipino
workers
2. Deployment of Filipino workers through government-to-government hiring
Original and exclusive jurisdiction of POEA:
 1. All cases which are administrative in character involving cases on licensing and registration of recruitment
agencies
2. Disciplinary action cases including special cases involving employers, principals and contracting partners and
Filipino migrant workers
Note: POEA decisions are not appealable to the NLRC nor to the CA, but to the Labor Secretary (exclusive jurisdiction)
Article 18: No employer may hire a Filipino worker for overseas employment except through Boards and entities
authorized by DOLE, except by members of diplomatic corps, intl orgs and other employers authorized by law. (ban on
direct hiring)
Entities authorized to hire:
1. Public employment offices
2. Private employment agencies
3. Shipping or manning agents
4. POEA
5. Members of diplomatic corps
6. Construction contractors
7. Other persons or entities as may be authorized by the DOLE Sec
Name hirees – individual workers who are able to secure contracts for overseas employment on their own efforts and
representation without the assistance of any agency. Their hiring needs to be processed through POEA.
NOTE: Natl seamen board was abolished. Its functions were transferred to POEA.
NOTE: Employees are not stripped of their security of tenure when they move to work in a different jurisdiction. When it
comes to their rights, we follow the law of the place where the contract is made. Since the contract id perfected here in
the Phils, our laws shall govern. All contracts of employment shall be APPROVED first by POEA
**stipulation of parties; if none, the jurisdiction more connected to the case (on which jurisdiction to be followed)
Two elements required for an injury to be compensable (seafarers):
1. Injury or illness is work-related
2. It occurred during the term of the seafarer’s contract
PERMANENT DISABILITY – inability of a worker to perform his job for more than 120 days, regardless of whether or not
he loses the use of any part of his body.
TOTAL DISABILITY – disablement of an employee to earn wages in the same kind of work of similar nature that he was
trained for or accustomed to perform. It does not require an employee to be completely disabled. The injury must be such
that the employee cannot pursue his or her usual work and earn from it.
Note: The company designated-physician has 120-240 days to assess worker’s fitness to work. If he fails to do so and the
worker’s condition remains unresolved, the latter shall be deemed totally and permanently disabled. Third-doctor referral
may be had if the company designated physician and the worker’s physician’s assessments contradict each other.
Death of seafarer need not have occurred during term of employment. It is enough that the seafarer’s work-related injury
or illness which eventually causes his death should have occurred during the term of his employment. 250K dollars, plus
70K dollars for each child under 21 but not exceeding 4 children (death benefits)
Invalid Side Agreement - An agreement that diminishes the employee’s pay and benefits as contained in a POEA-approved
contract is void, unless such subsequent agreement is approved by POEA.
The period to file an OFW’s claim is 3 years. The Labor Code provision prevails over the POEA SEC.
Employment-At-Will (EAW) – contract that may be terminated with or without cause but with notice to either of the
parties. It may be valid in overseas employment but invalid in local employment. (unilateral contract)
Remedies of worker if there is pretermination of employment (not EAW):
1. Full reimbursement of placement fee with 12% interest per annum
2. Salaries for the unexpired portion of the employment
**Termination of employment (reckoning point is arrival of the seafarer at the point of hire)
Agencies tasked to protect the rights of migrant workers:
1. DFA- make representation to host country
2. DOLE – fair application of labor laws to migrant workers
3. POEA – (refer to functions)
4. OWWA – develops and implements welfare programs for OFWs; repatriation of workers
Note: In no case shall an employment agency require any bond or cash deposit from the worker to guarantee his
repatriation.
The private sector shall also participate in the recruitment and placement of workers, locally and overseas, under such
guidelines as may be issued by Labor Sec.
Article 26: Travel agencies and sales agencies of airline companies are prohibited from engaging in the business of
recruitment and placement of workers for overseas employment whether or not for profit.
Read pages 86-87 on those disqualified for local and overseas employment.
Validity of License for local employment: Valid for 3 years from the date of issuance unless sooner revoked or cancelled;
its renewal must be filed not earlier than 60 days but not later than 30 days before its expiration.
Note: The license or authority shall not be directly or indirectly transferrable to any person or entity. Licensees and holders
of authority may undertake recruitment and placement activity only at their authorized official addresses. They may be
allowed to conduct provincial recruitment or job fairs only upon written authority from POEA.
Article 31: All applicant for license or authority shall post cash and surety bond to guarantee compliance with prescribed
recruitment procedures, rules of employment as may be appropriate.
Article 32: Any person applying with a private fee-charging employment agency for employment assistance shall not be
charged any fee until he has obtained employment. The worker shall pay after the signing of the POEA-approved contract.
PROHIBITED PRACTICES for licensees or holders of authority:
1. Charging or accepting of fees greater than that allowed by regulations or lending of money at usurious interests
2. Act of furnishing fake employment documents to a worker; act of publishing false notice or information in relation
to employment r recruitment
3. Giving any false notice or info or any act of misrepresentation to secure a license or authority
4. Attempt or induce the worker to quit his employment to offer him to another
5. Attempt or influence an entity not to employ a worker who has not applied in its agency
6. Engage in recruitment for jobs harmful to health r morality or dignity
7. Obstruct or attempt to obstruct inspection by Labor Sec
8. Failure to file reports on status of employment
9. To substitute or alter employment contracts approved by POEA
10. To become a member of the board of a corporation engaged in travel agency
11. To withhold or deny travel docs from applicant workers
Note: The POEA and DOLE Sec have concurrent jurisdiction to suspend or cancel a license of an entity for a recruitment
violation.
SOLIDARY LIABILITY
A recruitment agency is solidarily liable for the unpaid salaries of a worker it recruited for employment with foreign
principal. Even if it is the principal who entered contract with the worker, the agency is still solidarily liable. If the extension
of the employment is unkown to the agency, imputed knowledge rule does not apply, so agency may not be held liable.
Note: If the agency has been entrusted for the purpose of contracting with specified persons, the revocation of contract
between the agency and principal shall not prejudice the workers if they were not given notice thereof.
Powers of the Secretary of Labor:
1. Regulatory power – restrict aand regulate recruitment and placement activities of agencies
2. Visitorial power – at any time, inspect the premises, books of accounts and records of any person/entity
Two Kinds of Illegal Recruiter
1. Licensee/non-licensee
2. Holder/non-holder of authority
Illegal recruitment by a non-licensee – done either for local or overseas employment whether for profit or not, by any
individual or entity without the appropriate license or authority.
Illegal Acts done by either a licensees or a non-licensee:
1. Overcharging 5. Inducement not to employ
2. False notice 6. Recruitment for harmful jobs
3. Misrepresentation to secure license 7. Obstructing inspection
4. Inducing worker to quit 8. Contract substitution
Acts relating to overseas employment: (first 8 included)
 1. Misrepresentation in documentation 8. Excessive interest
2. Nonsubmission of reports 9. Specifying a loan entity
3. Involvement in travel agency 10. Non-renegotiation of loan
4. Withholding of documents 11. Specifying a medical entity
5. Failure to deploy 12. Specifying a training entity
6. Failure to reimburse 13. Violation of suspension
7. Non-Filipino manager
14. Collection of insurance premium
Illegal recruitment as an economic sabotage:
1. When it is committed by a syndicate (if it is carried out by a group of 3 or more persons conspiring and/or
confederating with another
2. When it is omitted in LARGE SCALE ( against 3 or more persons individually or as a group)
Note: Deceit or misrepresentation is an essential element for illegal recruitment to be considered as a criminal offense.
PERSONS LIABLE FOR ILLEGAL RECRUITMENT:
1. Principals 2. Accomplices 3. Accessories
SEARCH AND WARRANT OF ARREST
The Labor Sec or his representative may cause the lawful arrest of illegal recruiters either:
1. By virtue of a judicial warrant
2. Without judicial warrant (in flagrante delicto or when an offense has just been committed)
The power of the Secretary or rep. to order the closure of illegal recruitment establishments still subsists since it is an
administrative and regulatory power.
Penalties (local employment):
1. Economic sabotage – life imprisonment and a fine of 100K
2. Licensee or holder of authority – imprisonment of not less than 2 yrs nor more than 5 yrs OR a fine of not less than
10K nor more than 50K, or both. Plus revocation of license or authority
3. Non-licensee or non holder – imprisonment of not less than 4 yrs nor more than 8 yrs OR a fine of not less than
20K nor more than 100K, or both
Note: Penalties for overseas employment are prescribed by RA 8042 (Migrant Workers’ Act).
Prescriptive Periods: Illegal recruitment cases shall prescribe in 5 yrs; those involving economic sabotage, 20 yrs.
EMPLOYMENT OF NON-RESIDENT ALIENS
Article 40: Non-resident aliens must secure an employment permit before they can work in the country. Resident aliens
are not so required since what is required is an Alien Employment Registration Certificate.
TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT OF SPECIAL WORKERS
A. APPRENTICE
1. Apprentice – a worker who is covered by aa written apprenticeship agreement with an individual employer
 Apprenticeable occupation – any trade, form of employment or occupation which requires more than 3 months
of practical training on the job supplemented by related theoretical instruction.
 Apprenticeship agreement – an employment contract wherein the employer binds himself to train the apprentice
and the apprentice in turn accepts the terms of training.
Qualifications:
1. Be at least 15 yrs of age
2. Possess vocational aptitude and capacity for appropriate tests
3. Possess the ability to comprehend and follow oral and written instructions
Note: TESDA implements the apprenticeship program.
Requisites for employment of apprentices:
1. Employer should be engaged in a business that’s considered a highly technical industry (application of advanced
technology)
2. The job should be an apprenticeable occupation (a job officially endorsed by a tripartite body and approved for
apprenticeship by TESDA
Duration- shall not exceed 6 months. Note that apprenticeship needs DOLE’s prior approval or apprentice becomes a
regular employee. **Apprentice is also entitled to a salary not below 75% of the prevailing minimum wage.
Venue- may be within the sponsoring fir/agency itself; with a DOL training center; or training centers with actual work
participation within the sponsoring firm
Article 72: The Sec of Labor may authorize the hiring of apprentices without compensation whose training on the job is
required by the school or training program curriculum or as a requisite for graduation.
B. LEARNERS
Learners – are persons hired as trainees in semi-skilled and other industrial occupations which are non-apprenticeable
and which may be learned through practical training on the job which should not exceed 3 months.
Article 74: Learners may be hired when no experienced workers are available, the employment of learners is necessary to
prevent curtailment of employment opportunities and the employment does not create unfair competition in terms of
labor costs or impair or lower working standards.
Their wage shall also start at not less than 75% of the applicable minimum wage. The employer is also committed to hire
the learner-trainee as an employee after the training. No such commitment exists in apprenticeship.
Learners doing in piece work during the training period shall be paid in full for the work done.
The employment agreement shall be checked by the Sec of Labor.
C. HANDICAPPED WORKERS
Handicapped workers – those whose earning capacity is impaired by age or physical or mental deficiency or injury
Article 79: Handicapped workers may be employed when their employment is necessary to …(refer to Art. 72.)
The employment agreement shall be checked by the Sec of Labor.
Article 81 (Eligibility) – they may be hired as apprentices or learners if their handicap is not such s to effectively impede
the performance of job operations in the particular occupation for which they are hired.They also become qualified to be
a regular employee.
WORKING CONDITIONS AND REST PERIODS
- This will not apply to government employees, managerial employees, field personnel, members of the family of
the employer who are dependent on him for support, domestic helpers, persons in the personal service of
another, and workers who are paid by results.
*Managerial employees – those whose primary duty consists of the management of the establishment in which they are
employed of
*Field personnel – nonagricultural employees who regularly perform their duties away from the principl place of business
or branch office of the employer and whose actual hours of work in the field cannot be determined with reasonable
certainty.
TESTS OF EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP
1. Four-fold test
a. Selection and engagement of employee
b. Payment of wages
c. Power of dismissal
d. Employer’s power to control the employee with respect to the means and methods by which the work is to
be accomplished (control test)
2. Two-tiered approach (Economic dependence test)
a. Putative employer’s power to control the employee with respect to the means and methods by which the
work is to be accomplished
b. The underlying economic realities of the activity/relationship
***Evidence of employment - Common in administrative and quasi-judicial proceedings
**Employer-employee relationship exists between the owner of the jeepneys and the drivers even if the latter work
under the boundary system. Same applies to barbers in a barber shop.
Note: The principal consideration in determining whether a workman is an employee or an independent contractor is
the right to control the manner of doing the work. The existence of an employment relation is not also dependent on
how the worker is paid but on the presence or absence of control over the means and the method of work.
 Piece-rate workers may also be considered as employees if the element of control is present. Also street-hired
cargadores and movie workers (including associate producers if they don’t have the necessary tools, etc.
Note: The mere fact that an entity is a labor org (even unregistered) does not mean that it cannot be considered an
employer of the persons who work for it.
KINDS OF EMPLOYEES
1. On the basis of tenure
a. Temporary- defined or agreed period
A1. (A project or season employee exists only temporarily)
A2. Fixed period employment/ENDO (sometimes contrary to public policy)
A3. Probation – normally 6 months
b. Permanent/regular- doing a job which is necessary or desirable to the usual business of employer
2. On the basis of entitlement to codal basic benefits
3. On the basis of wage determination
a. Time- wage corresponds to an amount of time spent on the job
b. Non-time – pay is calculated based on the amount or kind of job done regardless of the time used
4. On the basis of salary component
a. Monthly paid – all of the days including rest days and holidays
b. Daily paid – only the day/s actually worked
5. On the basis of rank and union membership
a. Managerial – ineligible for union membership
b. Supervisory - eligible
c. Rank-and-file – eligible
Note: Employment relationship is absent in job contracting or independent contractorship.