The Basic Policy of the Labor Code (social

economic goals)
1. Protection to labor;
2. Promote full employment;
3. Ensure equal work opportunities regardless of sex,
race or creed, and
4. Regulate the relations between workers and
employers
Both sectors (employees and employers) need each
other.They are interdependent one is inutile without
the other.
The basic policy is to balance or to coordinate the
rights
and interests of both workers and employers.
Rights of Workers Under Art. 3 of the Labor Code
1. Self-organization;
2. Collective bargaining;
3. Security of tenure; and
4. Just and humane conditions of work
Labor - is understood as physical toil although it does
not necessarily exclude the application of skill, thus there
is skilled and unskilled labor.
Distinction: Labor law and social legislation
Labor laws- directly affect employment
Social legislation- governs effects of Employment.
- are social legislation
- not all SL are Labor Laws

Management Rights / Prerogative except as

limited by special laws, an employer is free to
regulate, according to his own discretion and
judgment, all aspects of employment, including hiring,
work assignments, working methods, time, place and
manner of work, tools to be used, processes to be
followed, supervision of workers, working regulations,
transfer of employees, work supervision, lay-off of
workers and the discipline, dismissal and recall of
workers
Art. 4. Construction in favor of labor.
All doubts in the implementation and interpretation of the
provisions of this Code,including its implementing rules
and regulations,shall be resolved in favor of labor.
The Supreme Court adopts the liberal approach which
favors the exercise of labor rights.
The labor law is liberally construed in favor of the
workers and strictly construed against the employers.
Reason for according greater protection to employees
In the matter of employments bargaining, there is no
doubt that the employer stands on higher footing than
the employee.
Those who have less in life should have more in law.
Management Rights
It should not be supposed that every labor dispute will be

automatically decided in favor of labor. Management has

also its own rights which are entitled to respect and
enforcement in the interest of simple fair play.
The law, in protecting the rights of the laborer,
authorizes neither oppression nor self-destruction of the
employer.
Right to Return of Investments (ROI) the
employer has the right to recover his investments and
to make profit. The Constitution provides that the
State shall regulate the relations between workers and
employers, recognizing the right of labor to its just
share... and the right of enterprises to reasonable
returns on investments, and to expansion and growth.
The Right to Prescribe Rules employers have the
right to make reasonable rules and regulations for the
government of their employees, and when
employees, with knowledge of an established rule,
enter the service, the rule becomes part of the
contract of employment.
The Right to Select Employees an employer has a
right to select his employees and to decide when to
engage them. The State has no right to interfere in a
private employment; it cannot interfere with the
liberty of contract with respect to labor except in the
exercise of the police power. If the employer can
compel the employee to work against the latter's will,
this is servitude. If the employee can compel the
employer to give him work against the employer's

will, this is oppression.

Right to Transfer or Discharge Employees the
employer has the perfect right to transfer, reduce or
lay off personnel in order to minimize expenses and
to insure the stability of the business, and even to
close the business, provided the transfer or dismissal
is not abused but is done in good faith and is due to
causes beyond control. To hold otherwise would be
oppressive and inhuman.
APPRENTICES
Art. 58. Definition of Terms.
Apprenticeship practical training on the job
supplemented by related theoretical instruction.
Apprentice is a worker who is covered by a written
apprenticeship agreement with an individual employer or
any of the entities recognized under this Chapter.
Apprenticeable occupation any trade, form of
employment or occupation which requires more than
three (3) months of practical training on the job
supplemented by related
theoretical instruction.
Art. 59. Qualifications of apprentice.
(a) Be at least fourteen (14) years of age;
(b) Possess vocational aptitude and capacity for
appropriate tests; and
(c) Possess the ability to comprehend and follow oral
and written instructions.
Art. 60. Employment of apprentices.

Only employers in the highly technical industries may

employ apprentices and only in apprenticeable
occupations approved by the Secretary of Labor and
Employment.
Art. 61. Contents of apprenticeship agreements.
Apprenticeship agreements, including the wage rates of
apprentices, shall conform to the rules issued by the
Secretary of Labor and Employment. The period of
apprenticeship shall not exceed six months.
Apprenticeship agreements providing
for wage rates below the legal minimum wage, which in
no case shall start below 75 percent of the applicable
minimum wage, may be entered into only in accordance
with apprenticeship programs duly approved by the
Secretary of Labor and Employment. The Department
shall develop standard model programs of
apprenticeship.
Art. 67. Exhaustion of administrative remedies.
No person shall institute any action for the enforcement
of any apprenticeship agreement or damages for breach
of any such agreement, unless he has exhausted all
available administrative remedies.
Four-Fold Test in Determining Employer-Employee
Relationship
1. the selection and engagement of the employee
2. the payment of wages

3. the power of dismissal

4. the employer's power to control with respect to the
means and methods by which the work is to be
accomplished (Brotherhood vs. Zamora)
B. Economic Relations Test a subordinate /
alternative test. Existing economic conditions
between the parties are used to determine whether
EER exists.
1. payment of PAG-IBIG Fund contributions
2. payment / remittance of contributions to the State
Insurance Fund
3. deduction of withholding tax
4. deduction / remittance of SSS contributions