Legal basis and targeted amendments
- Presidential Decree No. 1691 is enacted under the President’s constitutional authority to “order and decree.”
- It further amends portions of the Labor Code that cover employment services, overseas employment boards, seamen boards, labor standards enforcement, labor jurisdiction, appearances/fees, and grievance machinery.
- The amendments focus on Articles 15, 17, 20 and 35 of Book I, Article 128(b) of Book III, and Articles 217, 222 and 262 of Book V.
Policy and structural objectives
- The decree states that Labor Code labor laws were re-oriented to meet socio-economic development and social justice needs.
- The decree recognizes that new institutions were created under the earlier Labor Code organizational framework.
- The decree declares an urgent need to amend the Labor Code to institute “critical structural-functional changes” in the Ministry of Labor to meet domestic and international developments.
Bureau functions and employment services regulation
- Article 15(a) establishes the Bureau of Employment Services as primarily responsible for developing and monitoring a comprehensive employment program.
- The Bureau of Employment Services must formulate and develop plans and programs to implement employment promotion objectives of the relevant Title.
- The Bureau of Employment Services must establish and maintain a registration and/or licensing system to regulate private sector participation in the recruitment and placement of workers, locally and overseas, and to secure best possible terms and conditions of employment and compliance for Filipino contract workers, under rules the Minister of Labor issues.
- The Bureau of Employment Services must formulate and develop employment programs designed to benefit disadvantaged groups and communities.
- The Bureau of Employment Services must establish and maintain a registration and/or work permit system to regulate the employment of aliens.
- The Bureau of Employment Services must develop a labor market information system to aid manpower and development planning.
- The Bureau of Employment Services must develop a responsive vocational guidance and testing system to aid human resources allocation.
- The Bureau of Employment Services must maintain a central registry of skills except seamen.
Jurisdiction, appeals, and finality rules
- Article 15(b) grants regional offices of the Ministry of Labor original and exclusive jurisdiction over all matters or cases involving employer-employee relations, including money claims, arising out of or by virtue of any law or contracts involving Filipino workers for overseas employment, except seamen.
- Article 15(b) provides that the Bureau of Employment Services may, in the National Capital Region, exercise the same power when the Minister of Labor deems it appropriate.
- Article 15(b) makes decisions appealable to the National Labor Relations Commission upon the same groups of cases provided in Article 223 of the Labor Code.
- Article 15(b) states that decisions of the National Labor Relations Commission are final and inappealable.
Fees for employment objectives
- Article 15(c) empowers the Minister of Labor to impose and collect fees based on rates recommended by the Bureau of Employment Services.
- Fees are deposited in the National Treasury as a special account of the General Fund, for promotion of the Bureau of Employment Services objectives.
- Fee administration is subject to Section 40 of Presidential Decree No. 1177.
Overseas Employment Development Board creation
- Article 17(a) creates an Overseas Employment Development Board to undertake, in cooperation with relevant entities and agencies, a systematic program for overseas employment of Filipino workers in excess of domestic needs and to protect their rights to fair and equitable employment practices.
- The Board must promote overseas employment through a comprehensive market promotion and development program.
- The Board must secure the best possible terms and conditions of employment of Filipino contract workers on a government-to-government basis and ensure compliance.
- The Board must recruit and place workers for overseas employment on a government-to-government arrangement and in other sectors as policy may dictate.
- The Board must act as secretariat for the Board of Trustees of the Welfare and Training Fund for Overseas Workers.
National Seamen Board powers and jurisdiction
- Article 20(a)(a) creates a National Seamen Board to develop and maintain a comprehensive program for Filipino seamen employed overseas.
- The Board must provide free placement services for seamen.
- The Board must regulate and supervise activities of agents or representatives of shipping companies in hiring seamen for overseas employment and secure best possible terms of employment for contract seamen and compliance.
- The Board must maintain a complete registry of all Filipino seamen.
- Article 20(b) grants the Board original and exclusive jurisdiction over all matters or cases, including money claims, involving employer-employee relations arising out of or by virtue of any law or contracts involving Filipino seamen for overseas employment.
- Article 20(b) provides that Board decisions are appealable to the National Labor Relations Commission upon the same grounds provided in Article 223.
- Article 20(b) provides that decisions of the National Labor Relations Commission are final and inappealable.
License or authority suspension and cancellation
- Article 35 empowers the Minister of Labor to suspend or cancel any license or authority to recruit employees for overseas employment.
- Suspension or cancellation applies for violation of rules and regulations issued by the Minister of Labor, the Overseas Employment Development Board, and the National Seamen Board.
- Suspension or cancellation applies for violation of provisions of this and other applicable laws, General Orders, and Letters of Instructions.
Labor standards enforcement and execution writs
- Article 128(b) empowers the Minister of Labor or duly authorized representatives to order and administer compliance with labor standards provisions of the Labor Code.
- Compliance orders must issue after due notice and hearing.
- Orders are based on findings of labor regulation officers or industrial safety engineers made during inspection.
- The Minister of Labor may issue writs of execution to the appropriate authority for enforcement of the order.
- The enforcement and execution rule includes an exception: execution is not ordered when the employer contests the findings and raises issues that cannot be resolved without considering evidentiary matters not verifiable in the normal course of inspection.
Labor Arbiter and Commission jurisdiction
- Article 217(a)(a) grants Labor Arbiters original and exclusive jurisdiction to hear and decide cases involving all workers (agricultural and non-agricultural) for:
- Unfair labor practice cases.
- Unresolved issues in collective bargaining, including those involving wages, hours of work, and other terms and conditions of employment.
- All money claims of workers, including non-payment or underpayment of wages, overtime compensation, separation pay, and other benefits provided by law or appropriate agreement, but excluding claims for employees compensation, social security, medicare, and maternity benefits.
- Household services cases.
- All other claims arising from employer-employee relations, unless expressly excluded by the Labor Code.
- Article 217(b) grants the National Labor Relations Commission exclusive appellate jurisdiction over cases decided by Labor Arbiters, compulsory arbitrators, and voluntary arbitrators in appropriate cases provided in Article 263.
Appearances before labor tribunals
- Article 222(a) allows non-lawyers to appear before the Commission or any Labor Arbiter only if they:
- Represent themselves; or
- Represent their organization or members thereof.
- Article 222(b) prohibits imposing any attorney’s fees, negotiation fees, or similar charges of any kind arising from collective bargaining negotiations or conclusion of the collective agreement on any individual member of the contracting union.
- Article 222(b) allows attorney’s fees to be charged against union funds in an amount agreed upon by the parties.
- Article 222(b) declares any contract, agreement, or arrangement of any sort contrary to the fee restriction to be null and void.
Grievance machinery in collective agreements
- Article 262 requires that all disputes, grievances, or matters arising from the implementation or interpretation of a collective bargaining agreement—including matters concerning disciplinary action imposed or to be imposed on members of the contracting union—must be threshed out according to the grievance procedure in the agreement.
- Article 262 requires that where there is no collective bargaining agreement, and where the grievance procedure does not apply, all such matters must be subject to conciliation and arbitration as provided elsewhere in the Labor Code.