Counsel for employers and employees on employment compliance, disputes, and proceedings before DOLE and the NLRC.
- Illegal dismissal
- Unpaid wages & benefits
- Workplace compliance
What this area covers
Labor law governs the relationship between employers and employees — how work is engaged, compensated, and ended, and what each side may require of the other. We advise and represent both employers and employees, before the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC).
The rules in this area are largely set by the Labor Code of the Philippines, which establishes minimum standards that an employment contract cannot waive.
Matters we handle
Illegal dismissal
Money claims for wages and benefits
Review of employment contracts
Workplace compliance
Disputes before DOLE and the NLRC
How these matters typically proceed
Many disputes pass first through the Single-Entry Approach (SEnA), a mandatory conciliation step that gives the parties thirty days to reach a settlement before a formal case is filed. Where that does not resolve the matter, a complaint is filed with the NLRC, the parties submit position papers, and a labor arbiter renders a decision that may be appealed.
An employee may be dismissed only for a just cause (a serious fault on the employee's part) or an authorized cause (a business or health ground recognized by the Labor Code), and only after the notice and hearing that due process requires. Whether those standards were met is the question at the center of most dismissal cases.
Related areas
Employment questions often arise within our Business & Corporate Law practice, and disputes with government as employer can involve Administrative Law.