Labor Law Reviewer (University of the Philippines College of Law)

LABOR LAW 1 1st Semester, AY 20082009 Prof. E. (Leo) D. Battad College of Law University of the Philippines SUGGESTED TEXTBOOK: •

CA Azucena, The Labor Code with Comments and Cases (Latest Edition) REFERENCES:

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Samson S. Alcantara, and Samson B. Alcantara Jr., Philippine Labor and Social Legislation Annotated 1987 Philippine Constitution The Labor Code of the Philippines and its Implementing Rules & Regulations Pertinent International Human Rights Instruments and ILO Conventions, Recommendations and Labor-related laws Assigned Readings

I. INTRODUCTION TO LABOR LAW A.

Labor as a Concept

1. General Sense Labor physical toil although it does not necessarily exclude the application of skill, thus there is skilled and unskilled labor. Skill familiar knowledge of any art or sciencem united with radiness and dexterity in execution or performance or in the application of the art or science to practical purposes. Work is broader than labor as work covers all forms of physical or mental exertion, or both combined, for the attainment of some object other than recreation or amusement per se. 2. Technical sense Worker broader than employee as workers may refer to self-employed people, and those working in the service and under the control of another,

regardless of rank, title, or nature of work. Employee salaried person working for another who controls or supervises the means, manner or method of doing the work. B.

Labor Law 1. Definition

Labor legislaton  labor standards + labor relations a. consists of statutes, regulations and jurisprudence b. governing the relations between capital and labor c. by providing for certain employment standards and a legal framework d. for negotiating, adjusting and administering those standards and other incidents of employment. Labor standards: which sets out the minimum terms, conditions, and

benefits of employment that employers must provide or comply with and to which employees are entitled as a matter of legal right. Labor relations law: which defines the status, rights and duties and the institutional mechanisms that govern the individual and collective interactions of employers, employees or their representatives. SOCIAL LEGISLATION VS. LABOR LAWS Social legislation: provides particular kinds of protection or benefits to society or segments thereof in furtherance of social justice. Labor laws are necessarily social legislation. But to differentiate, labor laws directly affect employment while social legislation governs effects of employment. Labor laws are social legislation but not all social legislation are labor laws. Duman / Labor I / Prof. Battad / Page 2

2. Social Justice, Const., Art. II, Sec. 10; Art. XIII, Sec. 1-3 Section 10. The State shall promote social justice in all phases of national development. Section 1. The Congress shall give highest priority to the enactment of measures that protect and enhance the right of all the people to human dignity, reduce social, economic, and political inequalities, and remove cultural inequities by equitably diffusing wealth and political power for the common good. To this end, the State shall regulate the acquisition, ownership, use, and disposition of property and its increments. Section 2. The promotion of social justice shall include the commitment to create economic opportunities based on freedom of initiative and self-reliance. ARTICLE XIII – LABOR 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 selforganization, 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. Duman / Labor I / Prof. Battad / Page 3

The aim and the reason and, therefore, the justification of labor laws is social justice. Social Justice: JP Laurel in Calalang neither communism, nor despotism, nor atomism not 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. The promotion of the welfare of all the people, the adoption by the Government of measures calculated to insure economic stability of all the component elements of society through the maintenance of proper economic and social equilibrium in the interrelations of the members of the community, constitutionality, through the adoption of measures legally justifiable, or extraconstitutionally, through the exercise of powers underlying the existence

of all governments, on the time-honored principle of salus populi est suprema lex. Labor is the primary social economic force, thus the State shall protect the rights of workers and promote their welfare. Constitutional and Mandates

Rights

The State shall afford full protection to labor and this is found in the 1935, 1973, and 1987 Consti. The State affirms labor as a primary social economic force thus, it shall protect the right of the workers and promote their welfare. Basic rights of workers guaranteed by the consti: 1. Right to organize themselves 2. Conduct collective bargaining or negotiation with management 3. Engage in peaceful concerted activities, including to strike Duman / Labor I / Prof. Battad / Page 4

in accordance with law 4. Enjoy security of tenure 5. Work under humane conditions 6. Receive a living wage 7. Participate in policy and decision-making processes affecting their rights and benefits as may be provided by law. (Sec. 3, XIII). Other provisions in the Consti: 1)Right to form unions, associations, societies for purposes not contrary to law. 2)Right to self organization shall not be denied to government employees. 3)Regular farmworkers shall have the right to own directly or collectively the lands they till. 4)The State shall by law and for common good, undertake in cooperation with the

private sector a continuing program of urban land reform and housing. 5)The State shall protect working women by providing safe and healthful working conditions taking into account their maternal functions. 6)Labor is entitled to seats allotted to party-list representatives 7)The State shall promote industrialization and full employment based on sound agricultural development and agrarian reform. 8)Congress shall create an agency to promote the viability and growth of cooperatives. 9)The Govt shall increase salary scales of the other officials and employees of the National Government. 10) Career civil service employees shall be entitled to appropriate separation pay and to retirement and other Duman / Labor I / Prof. Battad / Page 5

benefits existing laws.

under

a.

Definition/Balancing of Interest

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Calalang Williams, 70 Phil. (1940)

constitutionality, through the adoption of measures legally justifiable, or extraconstitutionally, through the exercise of powers underlying the existence of all governments, on the time-honored principle of salus populi est suprema lex.

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Social Justice: JP Laurel in Calalang neither communism, nor despotism, nor atomism not 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. Social justice is the promotion of the welfare of all the people, the adoption by the Government of measures calculated to insure economic stability of all the component elements of society through the maintenance of proper economic and social equilibrium in the interrelations of the members of the community,

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Manila Electric Co. v. Sec. of Labor, 337 SCRA 90 (2000) When will the CBA take effect?