Chapter II DEFINITIONS

Art. 212. Definitions.

a. "Commission" means the National Labor Relations Commission or any of its divisions, as the case may be,
as provided under this Code.

b. "Bureau" means the Bureau of Labor Relations and/or the Labor Relations Divisions in the regional offices
established under Presidential Decree No. 1, in the Department of Labor.

LABOR RELATIONS

c. "Board" means the National Conciliation and Mediation Board established under Executive Order No. 126.

d. "Council" means the Tripartite Voluntary Arbitration Advisory Council established under Executive Order
No. 126, as amended.

e. "Employer" includes any person acting in the interest of an employer, directly or indirectly. The term shall
not include any labor organization or any of its officers or agents except when acting as employer.

f. "Employee" includes any person in the employ of an employer. The term shall not be limited to the
employees of a particular employer, unless the Code so explicitly states. It shall include any individual whose
work has ceased as a result of or in connection with any current labor dispute or because of any unfair labor
practice if he has not obtained any other substantially equivalent and regular employment.

g. "Labor organization" means any union or association of employees which exists in whole or in part for the
purpose of collective bargaining or of dealing with employers concerning terms and conditions of
employment.

h. "Legitimate labor organization" means any labor organization duly registered with the Department of
Labor and Employment, and includes any branch or local thereof.

i. "Company union" means any labor organization whose formation, function or administration has been
assisted by any act defined as unfair labor practice by this Code.

j. "Bargaining representative" means a legitimate labor organization whether or not employed by the
employer.

k. "Unfair labor practice" means any unfair labor practice as expressly defined by the Code.

l. "Labor dispute" includes any controversy or matter concerning terms and conditions of employment or the
association or representation of persons in negotiating, fixing, maintaining, changing or arranging the terms
and conditions of employment, regardless of whether the disputants stand in the proximate relation of
employer and employee.

m. "Managerial employee" is one who is vested with the powers or prerogatives to lay down and execute
management policies and/or to hire, transfer, suspend, lay-off, recall, discharge, assign or
Azucena, Cesario Alvero Jr. (2007). THE LABOR CODE WITH COMMENTS AND CASES (Vol. II). Quezon City: Rex Printing Company, Inc.
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discipline employees. Supervisory employees are those who, in the interest of the employer, effectively
recommend such managerial actions if the exercise of such authority is not merely routinary or clerical in
nature but requires the use of independent judgment. All employees not falling within any of the above
definitions are considered rank-and-file employees for purposes of this Book.

n. "Voluntary Arbitrator" means any person accredited by the Board as such or any person named or
designated in the Collective Bargaining Agreement by the parties to act as their Voluntary Arbitrator, or one
chosen with or without the assistance of the National Conciliation and Mediation Board, pursuant to a
selection procedure agreed upon in the Collective Bargaining Agreement, or any official that may be
authorized by the Secretary of Labor and Employment to act as Voluntary Arbitrator upon the written
request and agreement of the parties to a labor dispute.

o. "Strike" means any temporary stoppage of work by the concerted action of employees as a result of an
industrial or labor dispute.

p. "Lockout" means any temporary refusal of an employer to furnish work as a result of an industrial or labor
dispute.

q. "Internal union dispute" includes all disputes or grievances arising from any violation of or disagreement
over any provision of the constitution and by-laws of a union, including any violation of the rights and
conditions of union membership provided for in this Code.

r. "Strike-breaker" means any person who obstructs, impedes, or interferes with by force, violence, coercion,
threats, or intimidation any peaceful picketing affecting wages, hours or conditions of work or in the exercise
of the right of self- organization or collective bargaining.

s. "Strike area" means the establishment, warehouses, depots, plants or offices, including the sites or premises
used as runaway shops, of the employer struck against, as well as the immediate vicinity actually used by
picketing strikers in moving to and fro before all points of entrance to and exit from said establishment. (As
amended by Section 4, Republic Act No. 6715, March 21, 1989)

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1. EMPLOYER-EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIP ESSENTIAL

LABOR RELATIONS

The existence of employer-employee relationship, as explained in Book III, is determined by the presence of
the following elements, namely:

(a) selection and engagement of the employee; (b) payment of wages;

2. WHO ARE EMPLOYEES

The term “employee”:

(1) shall include any employee

(3) and shall include any individual

(a) whose work has ceased as a result of, or in connection with any current labor dispute

(b) and who has not obtained any other substantially equivalent and regular employment.

“Employee” refers to any person working for an employer. It includes one whose work has ceased in
connection with any current labor dispute or because of any unfair labor practice and one who has been
dismissed from work but the legality of the dismissal is being contested in a forum of appropriate jurisdiction.

“Employer” refers to any person or entity who employs the services of others, one for whom employees work
and who pays their wages or salaries. An employer includes any person directly or indirectly acting in the
interest of an employer. It shall also refer to the enterprise where a labor organization operates or seeks to
operate.

An employer may be brought into bargaining and economic relationship with persons not in his actual
employ; such persons are given the status and tights of “employees” in relation to him, in order to accord to
them the protection of the Act. Thus, The nature of a “labor dispute” does not require that the disputants
should stand in the proximate relation of employer and employee, with consequent protection of concerted
activities carried out by many persons belonging to several employers.

Azucena, Cesario Alvero Jr. (2007). THE LABOR CODE WITH COMMENTS AND CASES (Vol. II). Quezon City: Rex Printing Company, Inc.
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2.1 “One whose work has ceased...”

Cessation of work due to strike or lockout, or to dismissal or suspensions constituting unfair labor practices,
does not in itself affect the “employee” status, in the sense that the rights and benefits of the employee are
protected as though there had been no interruption of service, effective upon actual return to work.

3. LABOR ORGANIZATION AS EMPLOYER

Exceptionally, a labor organization may be deemed an “employer” when it is acting as such in relation to
persons rendering services under hire, particularly in connection with its activities for profit or gain.

4. LABOR DISPUTE

The test of whether a labor controversy comes within the definition of a labor dispute depends on whether it
involves or concerns terms, conditions of employment or representation.

The existence of a labor dispute is not negative by the fact that the plaintiffs and defendants do not stand in
the proximate relation of employer and employee.

5. LABOR DISPUTES AND REMEDIES: A SUMMARY

5.1 Definition
“Labor Dispute” includes any controversy or matter concerning terms and conditions of employment or the
association or representation of persons in negotiating, fixing, maintaining, changing or arranging the terms
and conditions of employment, regardless of whether the disputants stand in the proximate relation of
employer and employee.

5.2 Tests or Criteria of “Labor Dispute”

A. Nature: Dispute arises from employer-employee relationship, although disputants need not be proximately
“employee” or “employer” of the other.

B. Subject matter: Dispute concerns (1) terms or conditions of employment; or (2) association or
representation of persons in negotiating, fixing, maintaining, or changing terms or conditions of employment.

5.3 Kinds of Labor Disputes A. Labor Standards Disputes:

LABOR RELATIONS

(1) Compensation – (underpayment of minimum wage)

(2) Benefits – (nonpayment of holiday pay)

(3) Working conditions – (unrectified work hazards)

B. Labor Relations Disputes:

(1) Organizational Right Dispute/ ULP – (coercion)

(2) Representation Disputes – (determination of appropriate collective bargaining unit)

(3) Bargaining Disputes – (refusal to bargain)

(4) Contract Administration or Personnel Policy Disputes – (noncompliance with CBA provision)

(5) Employment Tenure Disputes – (nonregularization of employees)

5.4 Remedies in Labor Disputes (SEE TABLE 1) ________

Title II
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION

Chapter I CREATION AND COMPOSITION

Art. 213. National Labor Relations Commission. There shall be a National Labor Relations Commission which
shall be attached to the Department of Labor and Employment for program and policy coordination only,
composed of a Chairman and fourteen (14) Members.

Five (5) members each shall be chosen from among the nominees of the workers and employers
organizations, respectively. The Chairman and the four (4) remaining members shall come from the public
sector, with the latter to be chosen from among the recommendees of the Secretary of Labor and
Employment.
Upon assumption into office, the members nominated by the workers and employers organizations shall
divest themselves of any affiliation with or interest in the federation or association to which they belong.

The Commission may sit en banc or in five (5) divisions, each composed of three (3) members. Subject to the
penultimate sentence of this paragraph, the Commission shall sit en banc only for purposes of promulgating
rules and regulations governing the hearing and disposition of cases before any of its divisions and regional
branches,

Azucena, Cesario Alvero Jr. (2007). THE LABOR CODE WITH COMMENTS AND CASES (Vol. II). Quezon City: Rex Printing Company, Inc.
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and formulating policies affecting its administration and operations. The Commission shall exercise its
adjudicatory and all other powers, functions, and duties through its divisions. Of the five (5) divisions, the
first, second and third divisions shall handle cases coming from the National Capital Region and the parts of
Luzon; and the fourth and fifth divisions, cases from the Visayas and Mindanao, respectively; Provided that
the Commission sitting en banc may, on temporary or emergency basis, allow cases within the jurisdiction of
any division to be heard and decided by any other division whose docket allows the additional workload and
such transfer will not expose litigants to unnecessary additional expense. The divisions of the Commission
shall have exclusive appellate jurisdiction over cases within their respective territorial jurisdictions. [As
amended by Republic Act No. 7700].

The concurrence of two (2) Commissioners of a division shall be necessary for the pronouncement of
judgment or resolution. Whenever the required membership in a division is not complete and the
concurrence of two (2) commissioners to arrive at a judgment or resolution cannot be obtained, the Chairman
shall designate such number of additional Commissioners from the other divisions as may be necessary.

The conclusions of a division on any case submitted to it for decision shall be reached in consultation before
the case is assigned to a member for the writing of the opinion. It shall be mandatory for the division to meet
for purposes of the consultation ordained herein. A certification to this effect signed by the Presiding
Commissioner of the division shall be issued and a copy thereof attached to the record of the case and served
upon the parties.

The Chairman shall be the Presiding Commissioner of the first division and the four (4) other members from
the public sector shall be the Presiding Commissioners of the second, third, fourth and fifth divisions,
respectively. In case of the effective absence or incapacity of the Chairman, the Presiding Commissioner of the
second division shall be the Acting Chairman.

The Chairman, aided by the Executive Clerk of the Commission, shall have administrative supervision over
the Commission and its regional branches and all its personnel, including the Executive Labor Arbiters and
Labor Arbiters.

The Commission, when sitting en banc shall be assisted by the same Executive Clerk and, when acting thru its
Divisions, by said Executive Clerks for the second, third, fourth and fifth Divisions, respectively, in the
performance of such similar or

LABOR RELATIONS

equivalent functions and duties as are discharged by the Clerk of Court and Deputy Clerks of Court of the
Court of Appeals. (As amended by Section 5, Republic Act No. 6715, March 21, 1989)

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Art. 214. Headquarters, Branches and Provincial Extension Units. The Commission and its First, Second and
Third divisions shall have their main offices in Metropolitan Manila, and the Fourth and Fifth divisions in the
Cities of Cebu and Cagayan de Oro, respectively. The Commission shall establish as many regional branches as
there are regional offices of the Department of Labor and Employment, sub- regional branches or provincial
extension units. There shall be as many Labor Arbiters as may be necessary for the effective and efficient
operation of the Commission. Each regional branch shall be headed by an Executive Labor Arbiter. (As
amended by Section 6, Republic Act No. 6715, March 21, 1989)

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1. NLRC: NATURE AND ORGANIZATION

1.1 Creation and Autonomy

Before the advent of the Labor Code the labor court was the Court of Industrial Relations. When martial law
was declared in September 1972, PD No. 21 (October 14, 1972) abolished the CIR and replaced it with an ad
hoc National Labor Relations Commission. This NLRC was short-lived as it gave way to the NLRC which the
Labor Code created in 1974.

1.2 Administrative Supervision Delegated to the DOLE Secretary

Executive Order No. 204 delegated to the Secretary of Labor “administrative supervision over the NLRC, its
regional branches and all its personnel.” The Order cited two objectives: (1) to further improve the rate of
disposition of cases and (2) to enhance existing measures for the prevention of graft and corruption in the
NLRC.

1.3 Essential Character

Under Republic Act No. 6715 in 1989, as under the former law, the National Labor Relations Commission
continues to act collegially, whether it performs administrative or rule-making functions or exercises
appellate jurisdiction to review decisions and final orders of the Labor Arbiters.

1.4 Tripartite Composition

1.5 Allocation of Powers Between NLRC En Banc and Its Division

The “division: is a legal entity, not the persons who sit in it. Hence, an individual commissioner has no
adjudicatory power, although, of course, he can concur or dissent in deciding a case. The law lodges the
adjudicatory power on each of the eight divisions, not on the individual commissioners not on the whole
commission.

1.6 The NLRC Rules of Procedure

“The 2005 Revised Rules of Procedure of the National Labor Relations Commission” was published in
newspapers on December 23, 2005 and took effect on January 7, 2006.

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Art. 215. Appointment and Qualifications. The Chairman and other Commissioners shall be members of the
Philippine Bar and must have engaged in the practice of law in the Philippines for at least fifteen (15) years,
with at least five (5) years experience or exposure in the field of labor- management relations, and shall
preferably be residents of the region where they are to hold office. The Executive Labor Arbiters and Labor
Arbiters shall likewise be members of the Philippine Bar and must have been engaged in the practice of law in
the Philippines for at least seven (7) years, with at least three (3) years experience or exposure in the field of
labor-management relations: Provided, However, that incumbent Executive Labor Arbiters and Labor
Arbiters who have been engaged in the practice of law for at least five (5) years may be considered as already
qualified for purposes of reappointment as such under this Act. The Chairman and the other Commissioners,
the Executive Labor Arbiters and Labor Arbiters shall hold office during good behavior until they reach the
age of sixty-five years, unless sooner removed for cause as provided by law or become incapacitated to
discharge the duties of their office.

The Chairman, the division Presiding Commissioners and other Commissioners shall be appointed by the
President, subject to confirmation by the Commission on Appointments. Appointment to any vacancy shall
come from the nominees of the sector which nominated the predecessor. The Executive Labor Arbiters and
Labor Arbiters shall also be appointed by the President, upon

LABOR RELATIONS

recommendation of the Secretary of Labor and Employment and shall be subject to the Civil Service Law,
rules and regulations.

The Secretary of Labor and Employment shall, in consultation with the Chairman of the Commission, appoint
the staff and employees of the Commission and its regional branches as the needs of the service may require,
subject to the Civil Service Law, rules and regulations, and upgrade their current salaries, benefits and other
emoluments in accordance with law. (As amended by Section 7, Republic Act No. 6715, March 21, 1989)

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