Maximum Aid and Protection to Labor

Law 125 Midterms

Maximum Aid and Protection to Labor

The State shall:

1. Afford protection to labor
2. Promote full employment
3. Ensure equal work opportunity
4. Regulate employer-employee relationship

Assure workers of rights to:

1. Self-organization
2. Collective bargaining
3. Security of tenure
4. Just and humane working conditions

Extension of Applicability of Law to Protect Labor

• Stipulations not contrary to law, morals, good customs, public order, and public policy are binding
• Controversies and doubts arising from evidence and interpretation of agreements shall be resolved in favor of labor (GSIS vs. Alcaraz)

Protection of Labor Not Meant as a Sword to Oppress Employers

• “The employer also has rights which are entitled to respect and enforcement.”
• “Justice is in any case for the deserving to be dispensed in the light of established facts and applicable law and doctrine.”

Liberal Interpretation of the Code and Its Rules

When liberal interpretation is allowed

Art. 4 of the Labor Code: “… All doubts in the implementation and interpretation… shall be resolved in favor of labor.”

• To accommodate the interests of the working class
• Those who have less privilege in life should have more privilege in law

Where the law is clear, it is to be applied to the facts of the case

Principle of Non-Diminution of Benefits

Art. 100: “Nothing in the Code shall be construed to eliminate or diminish benefits being enjoyed at the time of promulgation.”

• Applies to existing laws, decrees, executive orders, company policies and practices, and contracts

Meaning of Supplements and Benefits

• Special privileges given to or received by employees over and above their ordinary earnings
• Examples:

1. Pay for vacation and special holidays
2. Paid sick leave
3. Overtime rate in excess of what is required by law
4. Profit-sharing
5. Family allowances
6. Christmas and cost of living allowances
7. Bonuses other than those paid as a reward for extra output or time spent on job
8. Funeral and bereavement aid
9. Other benefits stipulated in the CBA

Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) – negotiated contract between a legitimate labor organization and the employer concerning wages, hours of work, and other terms and conditions of employment

• May establish terms they deem convenient as long as they are not contrary to law, morals, good customs, public order, and public policy
• When CBA is clear, it becomes law between the employer and employee

Indicators that Benefits Have Ripened into Company Practice

• Done over a long period of time
• Made consistently and deliberately
• When there are no rules regarding the length of time, the regularity and deliberateness over a significant period of time would indicate company practice

1. Employer’s knowledge that he is not required to give such benefit
2. Consistent and deliberate granting
3. Several years of granting

Requisites for Diminution of Benefits

1. Benefit founded on a policy or has ripened into company practice
2. Practice is consistent and deliberate
3. Not due to error in construction or application of a doubtful/difficult question of law
4. Diminution or discontinuance is done unilaterally by employer

General rule: benefits from company practices are not legally demandable; establish specific, repetitive conduct that might constitute evidence of habit/practice.

Management prerogatives

• Free will of the employer to conduct his own business affairs to achieve his own purpose
• The employer is free to regulate all aspects of employment

1. Hiring
2. Work assignments
3. Working methods
4. Time, place, and manner of work
5. Tools to be used
6. Processes to be followed
7. Supervision
8. Working regulations
9. Transfer of employees
10. Lay off
11. Discipline, dismissal, and recall of work

• Based on the rule that the law does not authorize substitution of the judgment of the employee
• Employer is not liable if:

1. Done in good faith for the advancement of employer’s interest; not to defeat rights of employees under special laws or valid agreement
2. Done not in a malicious, harsh, oppressive, vindictive, or wanton (lol) manner or out of malice/spite.

• Must be fair and reasonable
• Penalties commensurate to the infraction or offense

Hiring and Firing

• Reason and manner of dismissal must be appropriate (substantive and procedural due process)

• Employee’s job = property right (“no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, and property without due process of the law; nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the law.”)

Discipline of the Employees

• Disciplinary action is dictated by legitimate business reasons; not oppressive

Transfer of Personnel

• When transfer is NOT unreasonable, inconvenient, or prejudicial to employee and does not involve demotion or diminution of benefits and salaries, he may not complain (actually, pwede pero waley lang).
• Transfer ≠ constructive dismissal
• Transfer must not be done as a means of getting rid of an undesirable employee or penalty for union activities

Productivity Standards

• Failure to meet quota within a reasonable amount of time  or producing unsatisfactory results constitute a just cause of dismissal regardless of employment status
• Must be done in good faith

Granting of Bonuses

• “Bonuses are not part of labor standards… thus, decrease or outright elimination does not constitute a diminution of salary.”
• Bonuses = entirely a management prerogative

Change of Working Hours

• Valid when demands of the service require change in working hours
• The right is not absolute; it must be done in good faith with the principle of fair play at heart and justice in mind.

Rules on Marriage

1. Prohibition on Marriage to Employees of Competitor Companies

• Valid exercise of management prerogative; interests of company may be compromised
• Protect trade secrets, manufacturing formulas, marketing strategies, etc.

1. Co-Employees

• Prohibits spouses from working in the same company
• Depends on reasonableness of business necessity
• To justify a bona fide occupational qualification:

1. Employment qualification is reasonably related to the essential operation of the job involved
2. There is factual basis for believing that all or substantially all persons meeting the qualification would be unable to perform the duties of the job.