This document discusses several topics related to labor and employment in the Philippines, including apprenticeship agreements, probationary periods, qualifications of apprentices, termination of apprenticeship agreements, learnership agreements, employment of non-resident aliens, regulation of private employment agencies, termination of employment, and manpower development programs. It provides definitions and requirements for apprentices, learners, employment permits, prohibited practices for employment agencies, and valid reasons for job termination by employers and employees.
2. Topics to be discuss:
Apprenticeship Training
Learnership Agreement
Employment of Non-Resident Aliens
Regulation of Recruitment
Termination of Employment
Employment of Housekeepers
Manpower Development
3.
4.
The provisions of written agreement to the
contrary notwithstanding and regardless of the oral
agreements of the parties, an employment shall be
deemed to be regular where the employee has
been engaged to perform activities which are
usually necessary or desirable in the usual business
or trade of the employer, except where the
employment has been fixed for a specific project or
undertaking, the completion or termination of
which has been determined at the time of the
engagement of the employee or where the work or
services to be performed is seasonal in nature and
the employment is for the duration of the season.
5.
Any employee who has rendered at least one
year of service, whether such service is
continuous or broken, shall be considered a
regular employee with respect to the activity
in which he is employed and his employment
shall continue until such actually exists.
An employee who is allowed to work after a
probationary period shall be considered a
regular employee.
6.
Probationary employment shall not exceed
six months from the date the employee
started working, unless it is covered by an
apprenticeship agreement stipulating a
longer period.
7.
Qualifications of an Apprentice
Apprenticeship Programs
Probationary Period of Apprentices
Termination of Apprenticeship Agreement
8. To qualify of an apprentice, a person shall:
a. Be at least fourteen years of age.
b. Possess vocational aptitude and capacity for
apprenticeship as established through
appropriate tests.
c. Possess the ability to comprehend and
follow oral and written instructions.
9. Actual training of apprentices may be
undertaken:
a. In the premises of the sponsoring employer
in the case of individual apprenticeship
programs.
b. In the premises of one or several designated
firms in the case of programs sponsored by a
group or association of employers or by a
civic organization.
c. In the Department of Labor and Employment
training center or other public training
institution.
10.
The organization of apprenticeship programs
shall be primarily a voluntary undertaking by
employers, the President of the Philippines
may require compulsory training of
apprentices in certain trades, occupations,
jobs or employment levels where shortage of
trained manpower is deemed critical as
determined by the Secretary of Labor and
Employment.
11. The maximum allowable probationary period
which the employer may stipulate with the
prospective apprentice in their apprenticeship
agreement shall be:
a. Four hundred hours or two months for
trades or occupations which normally
require a year or more for proficiency.
b. Two hundred hours or one month for
occupations and jobs which require more
than three months but less than one year
for proficiency.
12.
At least five working days before the actual date of
termination, the party terminating shall serve a written
notice on the other stating the reason fro such decision,
and a copy of said notice shall be furnished the
Apprenticeship Division of the Department of Labor and
Employment.
The hours of work of an apprentice shall not exceed the
maximum number of hours of work prescribed by law.
An apprentice not otherwise barred by law from working
eight hours a day may be requested by his employer to
work overtime and paid accordingly, provided there are no
available regular workers to do the job, and the overtime
work thus rendered is duly credited toward his training
time.
13. The following are valid causes for termination:
By the Employer
a.
Habitual absenteeism in on-the-job training and related
theoretical instructions
b.
Willful disobedience of company rules or insubordination to
lawful order of a superior
c.
Poor physical condition, permanent disability or prolonged
illness which incapacitates the apprentice from working
d.
Theft or malicious destruction of company property and/or
equipment
e.
Poor efficiency of performance on the job or in the classroom
for a prolonged period despite warnings duly given to the
apprentice
f.
Engaging in violence or other forms of gross misconduct
inside the employer’s premises.
14. By the Apprentice
a. Substandard or deleterious working
conditions within the employer’s premises
b. Repeated violations by the employer of the
terms of the apprenticeship agreement
c. Cruel or inhuman treatment by the
employer or his subordinates
d. Personal problems which in the opinion of
the apprentice shall prevent him a
satisfactory performance of his job
e. Bad health or continuing illness.
15. LEARNERS are persons hired as trainees in
semi-skilled and other industrial occupations
which are non-apprenticeable and which may
be learned through practical training on the job
in a relatively short period of time which shall
not exceed three months.
LEARNERS may be employed when no
experienced workers are available, the
employment of whom is necessary to prevent
curtailment of employment opportunities and
moreover where the employment does not
create unfair competition in terms of labor
costs or impair or lower working standards.
16. Every learnership agreement shall include:
a. The names and addresses of the learners
b. The duration of the learnership period,
which shall not exceed three months
c. The wages or salary rates of the learners
which shall begin at not less than seventyfive percent of the applicable minimum
wage
d. A commitment to employ the learners, if
they so desire, as regular employees upon
completion of the learnership.
17. No employer shall discriminate against any
woman with respect to terms and conditions of
employment on account of her sex.
No employer shall require as a condition of
employment or continuation of employment
that a woman employee shall not get married,
or to stipulate expressly or tacitly that upon
getting married a woman employee shall be
deemed resigned or separated, or to actually
dismiss, discharge discriminately or otherwise
prejudice a woman employee merely by reason
of her marriage.
18. It shall be unlawful for any employer:
a.
To deny any woman employee the benefits
provided for under the Labor Code or to
discharge any woman employed by him for the
purpose of preventing her from enjoying any of
the said benefits.
b. To discharge such woman on account of her
pregnancy, or while on leave or in confinement
due to her pregnancy
c.
To discharge or refuse the admission of such
woman upon returning to her work for fear that
she may again be pregnant.
19.
Any alien seeking admission to the Philippines for employment
purpose and any domestic or foreign employer who desires to
engage an alien for employment in the Philippines shall obtain an
employment permit from the Department of Labor and
Employment.
Any non-resident alien who shall take up employment in violation
of the Labor Code and its implementing regulations shall be
punished accordingly.
Any employer employing non-resident foreign nationals on the
effective date of the Labor Code shall submit a list of such
nationals to the Secretary of Labor and Employment within thirty
days after such date indicating their names, citizenship, foreign
and local addresses, nature of employment and status of stay in
the country.
20.
Any person applying with a private fee
charging employment agency for employment
assistance shall not be charged any fee until
he has obtained employment through his
efforts or has actually commenced
employment. Such fee must be always covered
with an approved receipt clearly showing the
amount paid.
21. It shall be unlawful for any individual entity, licensee or
holder of authority:
a.
To charge or accept directly or indirectly any amount
greater than that specified in the schedule of
allowable fees prescribed by the Secretary of Labor
and Employment, to make a worker pay any amount
greater than that actually received by him as a loan or
advance
b.
To furnish or publish any false notice or information
or document in relation to recruitment or employment
c.
To give any false notice, testimony, information or
document or commit any act of misrepresentation for
the purpose of securing a license or authority under
the Labor Code
22. d.
e.
f.
To induce or attempt to induce a worker
already employed to quit his employment in
order to offer him another unless the transfer is
designed to liberate a worker from oppressive
terms and conditions of employment
To influence or attempt to influence any person
or entity not to employ any worker who has not
applied for employment through his agency
To engage in the recruitment or placement of
workers in jobs harmful to public health or
morality or to the dignity of the Republic of the
Philippines
23. g.
h.
i.
To obstruct or attempt to obstruct inspection by the
Secretary of Labor and Employment or by his duly
authorized representatives
To fail to file reports on the status of employment,
placement vacancies, remittance of foreign
exchange earnings, separation from jobs,
departures and such other matters as may be
required by the Secretary of Labor and Employment
To substitute or alter employment contracts
approved and verified by the Secretary of Labor and
Employment from the time of actual signing thereof
by the parties up to and including the period of
expiration of the same without approval of the
Department of Labor and Employment
24. j.
k.
To become officer or member of the Board
of any corporation engaged in travel agency
or to be engaged directly or in directly in
the management of a travel agency
To withhold or deny travel documents from
applicant workers before departure for
monetary or financial considerations other
than those authorized under the Labor Code
and its implementing rules and regulations
25.
In case of regular employment, the employers shall
not terminate the services of an employee except for
a just cause or authorized by the Labor Code. An
employee who is unjustly dismissed from work shall
be entitled to reinstatement without loss of seniority
rights and to his back wages computed from the time
his compensation was withheld from him up to the
time of his reinstatement.
Termination by Employer
Termination by Employee
Termination Pay
26. An employer may terminate an employee for any of the
following causes:
a.
Serious misconduct or willful disobedience by the
employee of the lawful orders of his employer or the
duly authorizes representative in connection with his
work
b.
Gross habitual neglect by the employee of his duties
c.
Fraud or willful breach by the employee of the trust
reposed in him by his employer or duly authorized
representative
d.
Commission of a crime or offense by the employee
against the person of his employer or any immediate
member of his family or his duly authorized
representative
e.
Other causes analogous to the foregoing.
27. An employee may terminate without just cause the
employee-employer relationship by serving a written
notice on the employer at least one month in advance.
An employee may put an end to the relationship
without serving the employer for any of the following
just causes:
a.
Serious insult by the employer or his representative
on the honor and person of the employee
b.
Inhuman and unbearable treatment accorded the
employee by the employer or his representative
c.
Commission of a crime or offense by the employer
or his representative against the person of the
employee or any of the immediate members of his
family
d.
Other causes analogous to any of the foregoing.
28.
A regular employee shall be entitled to
termination pay equivalent at least to his one
month salary, or to one month salary for
every year of service, whichever is higher, a
fraction of at least six months being
considered as one whole year, in case of
termination of his employment due to the
installation of labor-saving devices or
redundancy.
29.
As provided in the Labor Code, the original contract of domestic
service shall not last for more than two years but it may be
renewed for such periods as may be agreed upon by the parties.
No househelper shall be assigned to work in a commercial,
industrial or agricultural enterprise at a wage or salary rate lower
than that provided for agricultural or non-agricultural worker.
If the housekeeper is under the age of eighteen, the employer
shall give him or her an opportunity for at least elementary
education.
If the househelper is unjustly dismissed, he or she shall be paid
the compensation already earned plus that for fifteen days by
way of indemnity.
If he or she leaves with justifiable reason, he or she shall forfeit
any unpaid salary due him or her not exceeding fifteen days.
30.
The National Manpower and Youth Council (NMYC) as
the human resource development agency of the
Philippine Government has been directing its efforts
to the training and utilization of the country’s richest
resource, its people.
Targets of the Council’s projects rare industrial and
agricultural workers, school dropouts and idle
segments of the population.
The Council shall formulate a long-term plan which
shall be the controlling plan for the development of
manpower resources of the entire country.