UP Law WEP kicks off first training series on labor standards

The Workers and Employees Program (WEP) of the University of the Philippines College of Law/Law Center began its first training series on Workers’ Rights and Benefits Under Labor Standards Laws through a session on wages held virtually on Saturday morning, 10 September 2022.

The resource persons were Atty. Queen Therese “Queen” D. Espinas, Attorney III of the Labor Standards Appeals and Review Division, Bureau of Working Conditions (BWC), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), and Atty. Grace N. Mana-ay-Badilla, Attorney V of the Review, Appeals and Legal Division, DOLE – National Wages and Productivity Commission.

Participants were workers and employees from labor organizations, associations, and unions, unaffiliated workers and employees, paralegals, law and labor and industrial relations students, and others.

In his welcoming remarks, University of the Philippines College of Law/Law Center Associate Dean Prof. Solomon F. Lumba said that the WEP Training Series furthers the heart and soul of the Constitution – the social justice provisions – which raises to a legal obligation the moral obligation that those who have more in life should help those who have less.

WEP Program Director Prof. Patricia R.P. Salvador Daway then discussed the role of labor standards as one of the three pillars of labor law, the others being labor relations and welfare legislation. Labor standards refer to the minimum terms and conditions of employment, the rights and benefits that workers and employees may demand as a matter of legal right, and which employers must comply with as a matter of legal obligation.

Atty. Espinas of the BWC-DOLE discussed the Labor Code provisions on Preliminary Matters, Payment of Wages, Prohibition Regarding Wages, and Administration and Enforcement.

Atty. Mana-ay-Badilla of the DOLE-NWPC then discussed the Labor Code provisions, as amended by Republic Act No. 6727 or the Wage Rationalization Act, on Minimum Wage Rates, as well as Wage Studies, Wage Agreements, and Wage Determination.

During the open forum, participants asked about inspection of establishments: how complaints may be filed, representation of employees, concerns about anonymity and confidentiality, and the need for unannounced inspections. Other questions covered exemptions from wage orders, the basis for setting wage rates, the period for negotiating wage distortions as well as reviewing wages.

Atty. Emir Mendoza of WEP concluded the ceremony by summarizing the session, and by inviting participants to attend the remaining sessions of the WEP training series, which will continue on Saturdays until 8 October. Full details are available at https://uplaw.ph/invitationforweptraining.