Philippine e-Legal Forum

The Pinoy Entrepreneurs site is intended to be a community of, well, Filipino entrepreneurs. The site includes discussions on legal matters relating to entrepreneurship, contracts, corporate affairs, HR and labor, money and finance, as well as other business-related topics principally in the Philippines.

The hope is to make the Law Central, Philippines a comprehensive collection of legal tools, information and resources for the Philippines. This endeavor is made easier by the fact that helpful resources and sites are already online.

This is also intended to be partly driven by all users. There is a "submit" or "add" link in some menu items, i.e., new entries for law firms, law schools, blawgs and the Philippine Online Law Dictionary. The other items, however, are not yet available for general use. Please use the Contact Us menu should you want to submit other helpful resources, primarily books and journals. Submissions in the directories and resources, as well as comments and suggestions, are most welcome.

This is a spin-off from the Atty-at-Work. See also Philippine Online Law Dictionary.

Definition of terms and phrases used in the legal system of the Philippines. Go here to view the Philippine Online Law Dictionary.

Forced early retirement

Probationary Employment

Illegal Dismissal

Holiday pay for regular holidays falling on a rest day: Congrats to DOLE

One of the confusing matters for employees and HR people alike is the computation of holiday pay, complicated by the fact that there are different "kinds" of holidays.  This is cleared by Memorandum Circular No. 1 of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

 ———————- 

MEMORANDUM CIRCULAR NO. 01
(8 March 2004)

     Pursuant to the provisions of the Labor Code, as amended in relation to the observance of declared holidays and in response to the queries received every time a Presidential Proclamation or a law is enacted by Congress which declares certain days either as a regular holiday, a special day or a special working holiday, the following guidelines shall be observed by all employers in the private sector:

   1. For regular holidays as provided for under EO 203 (incorporated in EO 292) as amended by RA 9177:

          New Year’s Day      -    January 1
          Maundy Thursday   -    Movable Date
          Good Friday           -    Movable Date
          Araw ng Kagitingan -    April 9
          Labor Day             -    May 1
          Independence Day  -    June 12
          National Heroes Day-    Last Sunday of August
          Bonifacio Day         -    November 30
          Eidul Fitr                -   Movable Date
          Christmas Day        -   December 25
          Rizal Day               -    December 30

      the following rules shall apply:

One of the major concerns of employers is labor, and it doesn’t matter if the employer is a big corporation with a Human Resources (HR) department or simply an entrepreneur/small and medium enterprise (SME). The employer hires, pays, manages, disciplines and fires employees. Problems inevitably arise in the process, and, based on the full-packed hallways that I regularly go through at the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC), these problems are not diminishing.

The employer has to contend with the fact that the law, including the Labor Code, looks favorably on labor. For instance, in the 2000 case of Serrano, the Supreme Court ruled that where the employer had a valid reason to dismiss an employee but did not follow the twin requirements of due process, i.e., notice and hearing, the dismissal is ineffectual and the employer must pay full backwages. Fortunately, this is no longer the controlling doctrine, having been reversed on 17 November 2004 through the Supreme Court’s decision in Agabon.

The bottom line is this: employers must be fully aware of and comply with the minimum requirements provided by law. This is the crucial part of the HR department or the company’s lawyer. Better still, a manager should acquire a working knowledge on labor laws and regulations, which are just a click away.

If you want to know about labor standards, minimum wage per region and wage-related matters, overseas employment, alien employment permits, and other topics, you could check the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) site. If you want to know the revised procedure in labor cases, as well as the Labor Arbiters and the pending cases under them, check the NLRC site.

There are other really helpful sites. It’s always better to know the implications of a labor-related action before doing it.