Basic Rights of Employees as per DOLE

Equal Opportunities

• The State protects labor, promotes full employment, and provides equal work opportunities regardless of gender, race, or creed.

Security of Tenure

• Every employee is assured security of tenure and cannot be dismissed from work except for a just or authorized cause, and only after due process.

Work Days and Work Hours

• A work day refers to any day during which an employee is regularly required to work.
• Hours of work include all time an employee renders actual work, or is required to be on duty or at a prescribed workplace.
• Normal hours of work in a day is 8 hours, including breaks or rest periods of less than one hour, but excluding meal periods of at least one hour.

Weekly Rest Day

• An employee is entitled to a day-off of 24 consecutive hours after 6 days of work, scheduled by the employer in consultation with the workers.

Wage and Wage-Related Benefits

• Wage is the amount paid to an employee in exchange for a task, piece of work, or service rendered to an employer.
• An employer cannot make any deduction from an employee's wage except for insurance premiums with the consent of the employee.

Payment of Wages

• Wages shall be paid in cash, legal tender at or near the place of work.
• Wages shall be given not less than once every two weeks or twice within a month at intervals not exceeding 16 days.

Employment of Women

• Women are prohibited from working at night in industrial undertakings from 10PM to 6AM, commercial/non-industrial undertakings from 12MN to 6AM, and agricultural undertakings at night time unless given not less than 9 consecutive hours of rest.
• Welfare facilities must be installed at the workplace, such as seats, separate toilet rooms, lavatories, and dressing rooms.
• There is a prohibition against discrimination with respect to pay, promotion, training opportunities, study, and scholarship grants.

Employment of Children

• The minimum employable age is 15 years.
• A worker below 15 years of age should be directly under the sole responsibility of parents or guardians.
• Work does not interfere with a child's schooling or normal development.
• No person below 18 years of age can be employed in hazardous or deleterious undertakings.

Safe Working Conditions

• Employers must provide workers with every kind of on-the-job protection against injury, sickness, or death through safe and healthful working conditions.

Right to Self-Organization and Collective Bargaining

• Every worker has the right to self-organization, free of any interference from the employer or government, to form or join any legitimate worker's organization, association, or union of their own choice.
• Except for managerial or confidential employees, all employees may form or join unions for purposes of collective bargaining and other legitimate concerted activities.
• An employee is eligible for membership in an appropriate union on the first day of their employment.

EC Benefits for Work-Related Contingencies

• The Employees' Compensation Program is a tax-exempt compensation program for employees and their dependents created under Presidential Decree No. 626, implemented in March 1975.