PHILIPPINES LABOR LAW

Chapter 1

Article 82. Who This Applies To:

These rules apply to all employees in any company, whether it makes profit or not. But it
doesn’t apply to government workers, managers, employees who work away from the office,
family members dependent on the business owner, house helpers, personal service workers,
and workers who get paid based on their results.

Managers are people whose main job is to manage the place they work or a part of it.
Employees who work away from the office are workers who don’t work at the main office or
branch and we can’t easily tell their working hours.

Article 83. Work Hours:

The regular work hours for any worker shouldn’t be more than eight hours a day.

For health workers in big cities and big hospitals, they should work eight hours a day, five days a
week, not counting meal times. But if they have to work six days a week or forty-eight hours,
they should get paid extra for the sixth day.

Article 84. What Counts as Work Time:

Work time includes any time when an employee has to be at work or a specific location, and any
time they’re allowed to work.

-Short breaks during work count as work time.

Article 85. Meal Times:

Every employer should give their employees at least 60 minutes for their regular meals.

Article 86. Night Shift Pay:

Every worker should get at least 10% extra pay for each hour they work between 10 PM and 6
AM.
Article 87. Overtime Pay:

Employees can work more than eight hours a day as long as they get paid extra for it. Overtime
on a holiday or rest day should be paid even more.

Article 88. Undertime and Overtime:

If you work less on one day, you can’t make it up by working more on another day. Even if the
employer lets the employee take a day off, they still have to pay the extra overtime pay.

Article 89. Emergency Overtime:

An employee may be required to work overtime during emergencies like war, natural disasters,
imminent danger to public safety, urgent repairs needed to prevent major loss or damage, to
avoid wasting perishable goods, or to finish important work that’s already started. They should
be paid extra for this overtime.

Article 90. How Extra Pay is Calculated:

To calculate overtime and other extra pay, only the cash wage should be considered, without
reducing for facilities provided by the employer.

Chapter II: Philippines Labor Law for Weekly Breaks

Article 91. Everyone Needs a Break:

Every boss, whether they’re making money or not, has to give their employees at least a 24-
hour break after every six days of regular work.

-The boss will decide when the weekly break is, unless a group agreement says otherwise, or
unless there are specific rules from the Labor and Employment Secretary. But, if an employee
wants their break day based on religious reasons, the boss has to respect that.

Article 92. When Can the Boss Make You Work on Your Break Day?
The boss can make an employee work on their break day if there’s an emergency like a natural
disaster, an urgent repair that needs to be done to avoid serious loss, an abnormal amount of
work due to special circumstances, if goods could go bad, if stopping the work could result in
major loss or damage, or under similar situations as decided by the Labor and Employment
Secretary.

Article 93. Getting Paid for Working on a Break, Sunday, or Holiday:

If an employee has to work on their scheduled break day, they should get paid an extra 30% of
their regular pay. If the employee’s job doesn’t have regular workdays or break days, they
should get an extra 30% pay for working on Sundays and holidays.

-Working on any special holiday should be paid an extra 30% of the regular pay. If this special
holiday work is on the employee’s scheduled break day, they should get an extra 50% of their
regular pay.

-If there’s an agreement or contract that says the employee should get paid more than this, then
the boss should pay that higher amount.

Chapter III HOLIDAYS, REWARD LEAVES AND SERVICE CHARGES

Article 94. Getting Paid on Holidays:

Every worker should get their regular daily pay on regular holidays, except in retail and service
businesses that usually have less than ten workers.

-The boss can make an employee work on any holiday, but the employee should get paid double
their regular rate.

-For this Article, a “holiday” includes: New Year’s Day, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, April 9,
May 1, June 12, July 4, November 30, December 25 and 30, and Election Day.

Article. 95. Reward Leaves:

Every employee who has worked at least a year should get a yearly reward leave of five days
with pay.

This doesn’t apply to those who are already getting this benefit, those who get at least five days
of paid vacation leave, and those who work in businesses that usually have less than ten
employees or in businesses that are allowed not to give this benefit by the Labor and
Employment Secretary.

-The boss can’t give more of this benefit than what’s already given here.

Article. 96. Service Charges:

All service charges collected by hotels, restaurants and similar places should be distributed at
85% for all covered employees and 15% for management. The employees’ share should be
equally distributed among them. If the service charge is removed, the employees’ share should
be considered as part of their wages.

Philippines Labor Law for Paying Workers

Chapter I INTRODUCTORY POINTS

Article 97. Definitions.

This section of the law uses these terms as follows:

-“Person” refers to an individual, partnership, association, corporation, business trust, legal

representatives, or any organized group of people.

“Employer” refers to any person who’s acting on behalf of an employer in relation to an

employee. This includes the government and its branches, subdivisions, and all government-
owned or controlled corporations and institutions, as well as private non-profit institutions, or
organizations.

“Employee” refers to any individual who is employed by an employer.

“Agriculture” refers to farming and all its branches. It includes cultivation and tillage of soil,
dairying, the production, cultivation, growing and harvesting of any agricultural and horticultural
commodities, the raising of livestock or poultry, and any practices performed by a farmer on a
farm related to farming operations. It doesn’t include manufacturing or processing of sugar,
coconuts, abaca, tobacco, pineapples or other farm products.

“Employ” means to hire someone to work.

“Wage” refers to the money paid to an employee for their work. This can be calculated in
different ways, like hourly, by task, or on commission. It also includes the value of things like
housing, food, or other facilities the employer provides the employee. The value should be fair
and not include any profit to the employer or to any person connected with the employer.

Article 98. Application of this Title.

This section doesn’t apply to farm tenants, domestic service, and people working at home doing
needle work or in any cottage industry that’s registered in accordance with the law.

Chapter II MINIMUM WAGES

Article 99. Regional minimum wages.

The least amount of money agricultural and non-agricultural workers can be paid in each region
of the country is set by the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards. (This section was
changed by Section 3, Republic Act No. 6727, on June 9, 1989).

Article 100. Prohibition against taking away or reducing benefits.

Nothing in this section should be interpreted as taking away or reducing any supplements or
other employee benefits that were available at the time this code was passed.

Article 101. Paying by results.

The Secretary of Labor and Employment will regulate the payment of wages based on results,
like piecework, and other non-time work. The goal is to ensure fair and reasonable wage rates,
preferably determined through time and motion studies or in consultation with representatives
of workers’ and employers’ organizations.

Chapter III PAYMENT OF WAGES

Article 102. Forms of payment.

Employers must pay employees with legal tender, not promissory notes, vouchers, coupons,
tokens, tickets, chits, or any other object. Employees can be paid with checks or money orders if
that’s customary or necessary because of special circumstances, as determined by regulations
issued by the Secretary of Labor and Employment, or as stipulated in a collective bargaining
agreement.

Article 103. Time of payment.

Wages should be paid at least once every two weeks or twice a month. Payments can’t be more
than sixteen days apart. If the employer can’t pay on time because of circumstances beyond
their control, they must pay the wages as soon as those circumstances have ended. Employers
can’t pay less frequently than once a month.

If an employee is hired to do a task that can’t be completed in two weeks, payment should
follow these rules, unless there’s a collective bargaining agreement or arbitration award:

Payments should be made at intervals not exceeding sixteen days, proportional to the amount
of work completed;

Final settlement should be made upon completion of the work.

Article 104. Place of payment.

Wages should be paid at or near the place of work, unless regulations issued by the Secretary of
Labor and Employment state otherwise.

Article 105. Direct payment of wages.

Wages should be paid directly to the workers who earned them, except in these situations:

-If force majeure makes payment impossible, or under other special circumstances determined
by the Secretary of Labor and Employment. In these cases, the worker may be paid through
another person with the worker’s written consent; or

-If the worker has died. In this case, the employer can pay the worker’s wages to the worker’s
heirs without the need for intestate proceedings. All heirs must sign an affidavit stating their
relationship to the deceased and the fact that they are the only heirs. If any of the heirs are
minors, the affidavit must be signed on their behalf by their natural guardian or next-of-kin. The
employer pays the wages to the Secretary of Labor and Employment or his representative, who
divides the money among the heirs. The employer isn’t liable for any more money once the
wages have been paid.
Article 106. Contractor or subcontractor.

As per the Philippines Labor Law when an employer hires another person to do work, the
contractor’s and subcontractor’s employees must be paid according to this code.

-If a contractor or subcontractor doesn’t pay the wages of their employees as required by this
Code, the employer who hired them is also responsible for paying the workers. This liability is
the same as if the employer had directly hired the workers.

-The Secretary of Labor and Employment can regulate or prohibit the contracting-out of labor to
protect workers’ rights. He can distinguish between labor-only contracting and job contracting,
and determine who is considered the employer to prevent any violation or circumvention of any
provision of this Code.

-“Labor-only” contracting is when the person who supplies workers to an employer doesn’t have
substantial capital or investment, like tools, equipment, machinery, work premises, and so on.
And the workers that person supplies are doing work that’s directly related to the main business
of the employer. In these cases, the person or intermediary is considered just an agent of the
employer. The employer is responsible to the workers as if they were directly employed by him.

Article 107. Indirect employer.

The rules of the immediately preceding article also apply to any person, partnership, association
or corporation which contracts with an independent contractor to do any work, task, job or
project, even if they’re not the employer.

Article 108. Posting of bond.

An employer or indirect employer can require a contractor or subcontractor to provide a bond

equal to the cost of labor. This bond is a guarantee that the workers will be paid if the
contractor or subcontractor fails to pay them.

Article 109. Joint responsibility.

Regardless of what any other laws say, every employer or indirect employer is jointly
responsible with his contractor or subcontractor for any violation of this code. For the purpose
of figuring out how much they owe under this Chapter, they are considered as direct employers.

Article 110. Priority of workers in case of bankruptcy.

As per the Philippines Labor Law if an employer’s business goes bankrupt or liquidates, the
workers have first claim on any unpaid wages and other monetary claims. As per the Philippines
Labor Law they must be paid in full before the government and other creditors are paid. (This
section was changed by Section 1, Republic Act No. 6715, on March 21, 1989)

Article 111. Attorney’s fees.

As per the Philippines Labor Law if wages are unlawfully withheld, the guilty party may be
charged attorney’s fees equal to ten percent of the recovered wages. It’s illegal for anyone to
ask for or take any part of the wages paid to any worker because of a lawsuit.