I.
BASIC PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS LABOR LAW - The law governing the rights and duties of the
A. CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS/BASIS
i. Art. II, Sec. 10 (Social Justice)
Section 10. The State shall promote social justice in all phases of
national development.
ii. Art. II, Sec. 18 (Protection to Labor Clause)
Section 18. The State affirms labor as a primary social economic
force. It shall protect the rights of workers and promote their
welfare.
iii. Art. III, Sec. 8 (Right to Organize Unions)
Section 8. The right of the people, including those employed in the
public and private sectors, to form unions, associations, or
societies for purposes not contrary to law shall not be abridged.
iv. Art. XIII, Sec. 3 (Protection to Labor
Clause)
Section 3. The State shall afford full protection to labor, local and
overseas, organized and unorganized, and promote full
employment and equality of employment opportunities for all.
It shall guarantee the rights of all workers to self-organization,
collective bargaining and negotiations, and peaceful concerted
activities, including the right to strike in accordance with law. They
shall be entitled to security of tenure, humane conditions of work,
and a living wage. They shall also participate in policy and
decision-making processes affecting their rights and benefits as
may be provided by law.
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.
The State shall regulate the relations between workers and
employers, recognizing the right of labor to its just share in the
fruits of production and the right of enterprises to reasonable
returns to investments, and to expansion and growth.
v. Art. XIII, Sec. 14 (Protection of Women)
Section 14. The State shall protect working women by providing
safe and healthful working conditions, taking into account their
maternal functions, and such facilities and opportunities that will
enhance their welfare and enable them to realize their full potential
in the service of the nation.
B. CIVIL CODE
i. Art. 1700
Article 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.
ii. Art. 1702
Article 1702. In case of doubt, all labor legislation and all labor
contracts shall be construed in favor of the safety and decent living
for the laborer.
C. DEFINITIONS
i. Labor Law
It is the body of statutes, rules, regulations, doctrines and
principles governing the relations, interactions or dynamics
between labor and capital, which include but not limited to their
rights, obligations and liabilities.
employer and employees (1) with respect to the terms and
conditions of employment and (2) with respect to labor disputes
arising from collective bargaining respecting such terms and
conditions.
ii. Labor Standards
Labor standards law is that part of labor law which prescribes the
minimum terms and conditions of employment which the employer
is required to grant to its employees.
As defined in the case of Maternity Childrens Hospital vs. Sec of
Labor [G.R. No. 78909. June 30,1989], Labor Standards refers to
the minimum requirements prescribed by existing laws, rules and
regulations relating to wages, hours of work, cost-of-living
allowance, and other monetary and welfare benefits, including
occupational safety, and health standards.
These are laws which set out the minimum terms, conditions and
benefits of employment that the employers must provide or comply
with and to which employees are entitled as a matter of legal right.
Labor standards, as defined more specially by jurisprudence, are
the minimum requirements prescribed by existing laws, rules and
regulations relating to wages, hours of work, cost of living
allowance, and other monetary and welfare benefits, including
occupational, safety and health standards (Maternity Children's
Hospital vs. Secretary of Labor, G.R. No. 78909, 30 June
1989).
iii. Labor Relations
Labor relations law is that part of labor law (Book V of the Labor
Code) which deals with unionism, collective bargaining, grievance
machinery, voluntary arbitration, strike, picketing and lockout.
Labor Relations refers to the law which seeks to stabilize the
relation between employers and employees, to forestall and thresh
out their differences through the encouragement of collective
bargaining and the settlement of labor disputes through
conciliation, mediation and arbitration.
These are the body of laws, which have for its purpose, the
harmonization of the relationship between labor and management,
through institutional mechanism, whether individually or collective,
by means of compulsory or voluntary arbitration, conciliation and
mediation. The end objective of labor law, is the attainment of
industrial peace in company level in particular and in the
industrial front in general.
iv. Social Legislation/Welfare Laws
These refer to the special laws and statutes impressed with public
interest, the enactment of which by the legislature is geared to
flesh-out the Constitution's social justice provisions, their
intendment being the welfare of society as a whole and the
working class in particular.
Social Legislation comprises the general laws that are supposed to
protect the welfare of the public in general. Part of this would be
the Social Security Law, the Employees Compensation
Commission and the revised GSIS Act. The Agrarian Reforms Law
is also included. The basis of all these enactments and legislations
is SOCIAL JUSTICE.

Art. 217. Jurisdiction of the Labor Arbiters and the
Commission.
Except as otherwise provided under this Code, the Labor Arbiters
shall have original and exclusive jurisdiction to hear and decide,
within thirty (30) calendar days after the submission of the case by
the parties for decision without extension, even in the absence of
stenographic notes, the following cases involving all workers,
whether agricultural or non-agricultural:
1. Unfair labor practice cases;
2. Termination disputes;
3. If accompanied with a claim for reinstatement, those
cases that workers may file involving wages, rates of
pay, hours of work and other terms and conditions of
employment;
4. Claims for actual, moral, exemplary and other forms of
damages arising from the employer-employee
relations;
5. Cases arising from any violation of Article 264 of this
Code, including questions involving the legality of
strikes and lockouts; and
6. Except claims for Employees Compensation, Social
Security, Medicare and maternity benefits, all other
claims arising from employer-employee relations,
including those of persons in domestic or household
service, involving an amount exceeding five thousand
pesos (P5,000.00) regardless of whether accompanied
with a claim for reinstatement.
The Commission shall have exclusive appellate jurisdiction over all
cases decided by Labor Arbiters.
Cases arising from the interpretation or implementation of
collective bargaining agreements and those arising from the
interpretation or enforcement of company personnel policies shall
be disposed of by the Labor Arbiter by referring the same to the
grievance machinery and voluntary arbitration as may be provided
in said agreements.