Contract of Labor (n)

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.

ARTICLE 1701. Neither capital nor labor shall act oppressively against the other, or
impair the interest or convenience of the public.

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.

ARTICLE 1703. No contract which practically amounts to involuntary servitude, under

any guise whatsoever, shall be valid.

ARTICLE 1704. In collective bargaining, the labor union or members of the board or
committee signing the contract shall be liable for non-fulfillment thereof.

ARTICLE 1705. The laborer’s wages shall be paid in legal currency.

ARTICLE 1706. Withholding of the wages, except for a debt due, shall not be made by
the employer.

ARTICLE 1707. The laborer’s wages shall be a lien on the goods manufactured or the
work done.

ARTICLE 1708. The laborer’s wages shall not be subject to execution or attachment,
except for debts incurred for food, shelter, clothing and medical attendance.

ARTICLE 1709. The employer shall neither seize nor retain any tool or other articles
belonging to the laborer.

ARTICLE 1710. Dismissal of laborers shall be subject to the supervision of the

Government, under special laws.

ARTICLE 1711. Owners of enterprises and other employers are obliged to pay
compensation for the death of or injuries to their laborers, workmen, mechanics or other
employees, even though the event may have been purely accidental or entirely due to a
fortuitous cause, if the death or personal injury arose out of and in the course of the
employment. The employer is also liable for compensation if the employee contracts
any illness or disease caused by such employment or as the result of the nature of the
employment. If the mishap was due to the employee’s own notorious negligence, or
voluntary act, or drunkenness, the employer shall not be liable for compensation. When
the employee’s lack of due care contributed to his death or injury, the compensation
shall be equitably reduced.

ARTICLE 1712. If the death or injury is due to the negligence of a fellow worker, the
latter and the employer shall be solidarily liable for compensation. If a fellow worker’s
intentional or malicious act is the only cause of the death or injury, the employer shall
not be answerable, unless it should be shown that the latter did not exercise due
diligence in the selection or supervision of the plaintiff’s fellow worker.