Amended child-employment restrictions (Sec. 3)
- Section 3(a) prohibits employing, permitting, or suffering a woman below eighteen years of age to work, with or without compensation, in any bar, night club, dance hall, dancing school for men, escort service, lodging house, massage clinic, hotel, resort, or other similar place of work, in capacities such as hostess, waitress, individual entertainer or escort for men, taxi-dancer, professional dance partner, attendant, or any other similar capacity.
- Section 3(b) prohibits employing, permitting, or suffering a child below eighteen years of age to work in any pharmacy or laboratory for the preparation of drugs or pharmaceutical or chemical products.
- Section 3(c) prohibits employing, permitting, or suffering any person below eighteen years of age to work in any shop, factory, industrial or commercial establishment, or other place of labor, in occupations:
- where the work is connected with the preparation of, or involves contamination with, any noxious, poisonous, infectious, or explosive substances; or
- where the work, not otherwise specified, involves serious danger to the life or health of the employee as determined by the Secretary of Labor after consultation with representatives of employers and employees or their organizations.
- For Section 3(c)(2), the Secretary of Labor must from time to time issue orders specifying the occupations determined to involve serious danger, and must cause those orders to be published in newspapers of general circulation or by other means reasonably calculated to give interested persons general notice.
- Any such Secretary of Labor order takes effect thirty days after entry thereof.
Women’s employment limits and equal pay (Sec. 7)
- Section 7(a) prohibits employing women, regardless of age, in shops, factories, commercial or industrial establishments, or other places of labor, to perform work that requires the employee to work always standing or involves lifting of heavy objects.
- Section 7(b) prohibits employing, permitting, or suffering women, regardless of age, to work, with or without compensation, in any industrial undertaking or branch thereof between ten o’clock at night and six o’clock in the morning of the following day, except women who are immediate members of the family operating or owning the same.
- Section 7(b) allows exemptions from the night-work prohibition in industrial undertakings through:
- force majeure causing an interruption in work that was not foreseen and is not recurring;
- an exemption by the Secretary of Labor after proper investigation when the work involves raw materials or materials in the course of treatment subject to rapid deterioration and night work is necessary to preserve such materials from loss; or
- an exemption by the President of the Philippines, with or without the recommendation of the Secretary of Labor, in an emergency where national interests demand suspension of the night-work prohibition for women in a particular industry or industries.
- Section 7(c) prohibits employing, permitting, or suffering women, regardless of age, to work, with or without compensation, in any commercial or non-industrial undertaking or branch other than agricultural, between twelve o’clock midnight and seven o’clock in the morning of the following day, except women who are immediate members of the family owning or operating the same.
- Section 7(d) prohibits employing, permitting, or suffering women, regardless of age, in agricultural undertakings at night time without giving her a period of rest of not less than nine consecutive hours.
- Section 7(d) states that the prohibitions against night work for women in Sections 7(b), 7(c), and 7(d) do not apply to:
- women holding responsible positions of a managerial or technical character; and
- women employed in health and welfare services.
- Section 7(e) requires every employer in workplaces where men and women are employed to:
- not discriminate against any woman in respect of terms and conditions of employment on account of sex; and
- pay equal remuneration for work of equal value for both men and women employees.
Prohibited discriminatory discharge and retaliation (Sec. 12)
- Section 12(a)(1) makes it unlawful for an employer to discharge any woman employed by him for the purpose of preventing such woman from enjoying the benefits of Sections seven or eight of Republic Act No. 679.
- Section 12(a)(2) makes it unlawful for an employer to discharge a woman on account of her pregnancy, or while on leave or in confinement due to pregnancy.
- Section 12(a)(3) makes it unlawful for an employer to discharge or refuse admission of a woman upon returning to her work for fear that she may again be pregnant.
- Section 12(b) makes it unlawful for an employer to discharge any woman or child employed by him for having filed a complaint under the Act.
- Section 12(b) makes it unlawful for an employer to discharge a woman or child employed, or any other employee, who has given testimony or is about to give testimony under the Act.
- Section 12(c) makes it unlawful for an employer to discharge any woman or child employed for any other cause that is not attributable to the fault of such employee or worker.
Criminal penalties for violations (Sec. 12)
- Section 12(d) provides that any violation of the Act is punishable by:
- a fine of not less than PHP 100 nor more than PHP 5,000; or
- imprisonment of not less than thirty days nor more than one year; or
- both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the Court.
- Section 12(d) imposes corporate liability by stating that if the violation is committed by a firm, association, or corporation, the manager (or, in his default, the person acting as such) is liable.