[The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) issued Labor Advisory No. 17-A, advising covered business or employers to submit the Establishment Report Form. The Form (3 pages) is enclosed below (right click to download and save).]
Continue readingThe unemployment insurance or involuntary separation benefit is a cash benefit granted to covered employees, including Kasambahays and Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs), who are involuntarily separated from employment. To assist members who are involuntarily separated from employment, the Social Security System (SSS) issued the implementing guidelines for the Unemployment Insurance or Involuntary Separation Benefit. Here are the salient points of the SSS guidelines:
Continue reading[The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) issued Labor Advisory No. 17, series of 2020, on the Guidelines on Employment Preservation Upon the Resumption of Business Operation. See Summary and Commentary. See also Labor Advisory No. 17-A (Establishment Report Form) and Labor Advisory No. 18. The full text of Labor Advisory No. 17 is reproduced below.]
Continue readingRetrenchment refers to the economic ground for dismissing employees and is resorted to primarily to avoid or minimize business losses. Like redundancy, it is a form of downsizing. Retrenchment and redundancy are valid management prerogatives, provided they are done in good faith and the employer faithfully complies with the substantive and procedural requirements laid down by law and jurisprudence.
Continue reading[A probationary employee becomes a regular employee if allowed to work after the standard probationary period of six (6) months. The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) clarified that the one-month Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) is not to be included in computing the 6-month period (but note the ECQ extension until 15 May 2020). This is contained in Labor Advisory No. 14, which appears to cover all probationary employees, but it has to be reconciled with the fact that some probationary employees actually worked during the ECQ, either through telecommuting or when their employers perform essential services (see separate discussion). The full text of Labor Advisory No. 14 and Labor Advisory No. 14-A is reproduced below.]
Continue reading[This is the full text of Department of Labor and Employment Advisory No. 1, series of 2020, on the suspension of work in the private sector by reason of natural calamity or man-made calamity. Incidentally, President Rodrigo Duterte President Rodrigo Duterte issued Proclamation No. 929, declaring a state of calamity throughout the Philippines due to the coronavirus 2019 disease (Covid-19).]
Continue reading[On 4 March 2020, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) issued Labor Advisory No. 9, series of 2020, providing for the guidelines on the implementation of flexible work arrangements as remedial measure due to the ongoing outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). See Summary/Discussion. The full text of Labor Advisory No. 09 is reproduced below.]
Continue readingEmployees in the Philippines enjoy security of tenure. Under the Labor Code, no employee may be terminated or dismissed, except for just or authorized causes. The employer has the burden of proving, among others, that the facts support the elements of the cause used by the company to justify the employment termination. Each ground has specific elements. It is important, therefore, for management, or at least the HR staff, to be familiar with these factors.
Continue reading[Terms defined under the Labor Code of the Philippines (Presidential Decree No. 442), related laws and issuances, implementing rules and regulations, and jurisprudence. New terms will be added from time to time.]
Continue readingThe Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board-NCR (RTWPB-NCR) has approved Wage Order No. NCR-19 (full text), providing that all private sector minimum wage workers and employees in the National Capital Region (NCR) shall receive an increase in the existing Basic Wage in the amount of FIFTEEN PESOS (P15.00) per day. The new daily minimum wage rates of covered workers in the private sector in the NCR are as follows:
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