Labor Law: Title III; Chapter II Employment of Minors Arts. 137 - 138

Title III

Working Conditions for Special Groups of Employees

Chapter II

Employment of Minors

Arts. 137 - 138

Art. 137 [139]. Minimum employable age.

1. No child below fifteen (15) years of age shall be employed, except when he works directly under the sole responsibility of his parents or guardian, and his employment does not in any way interfere with his schooling.
2. Any person between fifteen (15) and eighteen (18) years of age may be employed for such number of hours and such periods of the day as determined by the Secretary of Labor and Employment in appropriate regulations.
3. The foregoing provisions shall in no case allow the employment of a person below eighteen (18) years of age in an undertaking which is hazardous or deleterious in nature as determined by the Secretary of Labor and Employment.

Art. 138 [140]. Prohibition against child discrimination. 

No employer shall discriminate against any person in respect to terms and conditions of employment on account of his age.

Own Notes:

• Art. 137 [139]. Minimum employable age.
• Below fifteen (15) years of age
• Shall not be employed
• Except:
1. Directly under sole responsibility of his parents or guardian; and
2. Employment does not interfere with schooling.
• Between fifteen (15) and eighteen (18) years of age 
• May be employed as determined by the Secretary of Labor and Employment 
• Below eighteen (18) years of age
• Shall not be employed in hazardous or deleterious in nature 

• Art. 138 [140]. Prohibition against child discrimination. 
• Employers cannot discriminate in employment terms based on age.

Notes:

• The Implementing Rules state that any person, regardless of sex, between ages 15 and 18 may be employed in any nonhazardous work. (Book III, Rule XII, Sec. 3)
• It follows that in any hazardous work, the employable age is 18 and up.
• A non-hazardous work or undertaking is one where the employee is not exposed to any risk which constitutes an imminent danger to his safety and heath.
• The Rules cite instances of hazardous workplaces.

• The Philippine law against child abuse is RA. No. 7610.
• Made into law on June 17, 1992, it declares that the State shall intervene on behalf of the child when the parent, guardian, teacher or person having care or custody of the child fails or is unable to protect the child against abuse, exploitation and discrimination. 
• Strengthening the original law, RA. No. 7658, approved on November 9, 1993, prohibits the employment of children below 15 years of age. 
• It allows, however, certain exceptions, subject to strict conditions.
• Amended further by R.A No. 9231, Section 12 now reads: 

Sec. 12. Employment of Children. 

Children below fifteen (15) years of age shall not be employed except:

1. When a child works directly under the sole responsibility of his/her parents or legal guardian and where only members of his/her family are employed: 
• Provided, however, That his/her employment neither endangers his/her life, safety, health, and morals, nor impairs his/her normal development: 
• Provided, further, That the parent or legal guardian shall provide the said child with the prescribed primary and/or secondary education; or
2. Where a child’s employment or participation in public entertainment or information through cinema, theater, radio, television or other forms of media is essential: 
• Provided, That the employment contract is concluded by the child’s parents or legal guardian, with the express agreement of the child concerned, if possible, and the approval of the Department of Labor and Employment: 
• Provided, further, That the following requirements in all instances are strictly complied with:
• The employer shall ensure the protection, health, safety, morals and normal development of the child;
• The employer shall institute measures to prevent the child’s exploitation or discrimination taking into account the system and level of remuneration, and the duration and arrangement of working time; and
• The employer shall formulate and implement, subject to the approval and supervision of competent authorities, a continuing program for training and skills acquisition of the child.

In the above-exceptional cases where any such child may be employed, the employer shall first secure, before engaging such child, a work permit from the Department of Labor and Employment which shall ensure observance of the above requirements.

For purposes of this Article, the term “child” shall apply to all persons under eighteen (18) years of age.

• To reflect the changes introduced by the said amendatory R.A. No. 9231, a new set of lmplementing Rules and Regulations was issued m 2004.

Working Child

• For legal purposes, the term “child” refers to any person less than 18 years of age.
• On the other hand, a “working child” refers to any child engaged as follows:
1. when the child is below eighteen (18) years of age, in work or economic activity that is not child labor, and
2. when the child below fifteen (15) years of age:
• in work where he/she is directly under the responsibility of his/her parents or legal guardian and where only members of the child’s family are employed; or
• in public entertainment or information.
• “Child labor”
• refers to any work or economic activity performed by a child that subjects him/her to any form of exploitation or is harmful to his/her health and safety or physical, mental or psychosocial development.
• “Parent” 
• refers to either the biological or adoptive mother or father. 
• “Guardian” 
• refers to any person who exercises substitute parental authority regardless of whether or not such parental authority over a child is bestowed by a court.
• “Members of the family” 
• refers to the child’s parents, guardian, brothers or sisters whether of full or half blood, and other ascendants and descendants or collateral relatives within the fourth civil degree of consanguinity.
• “Employer” 
• refers to any person, whether natural or juridical who, whether for valuable consideration or not, directly or indirectly procures, uses, avails itself of, contracts out or otherwise derives benefit from the work or services of a child in any occupation, undertaking, project or activity, whether for profit or not. It includes any person acting in the interest of the employer.
• “Public entertainment or information” 
• refers to artistic, literary, and cultural performances for television show, radio program, cinema or film, theater, commercial advertisement, public relations activities or campaigns, print materials, internet, and other media. 

Prohibition on the Employment of Children Below 15 Years of Age

Exceptions and Conditions

• General Rule: No child below 15 years of age shall be employed, permitted or suffered to work in any public or private establishment.
• Exceptions:
1. When a child works directly under the sole responsibility of his/her parents or legal guardian and where only members of his/her family are employed: 
2. Where a child’s employment or participation in public entertainment or information, is essential, regardless of the extent of the child's role.
• Such employment shall be strictly under the following conditions:
1. The total number of hours worked shall be in accordance with the working hours prescribed in the Rules,
2. The employment does not endanger the child's life, safety, health and morals, nor impair the child's normal development, 
3. The child is provided with at least the mandatory elementary or secondary education; and
4. The employer secures a work permit for the child.
• Hours of Work of a Working Child 
• The following hours of work shall be observed for any child allowed to work:
• For a child below 15 years of age, the hours of work shall not be more than twenty hours a week, provided that the work shall not be more than four hours at any given day;
• For a child 15 years of age but below 18, the hours of work shall not be more than eight hours a day, and in no case beyond 40 hours a week; and
• No child 
• below 15 years of age shall be allowed to work between eight o’ clock in the evening and six o’clock in the morning of the following day 
• 15 years of age but below 18 shall be allowed to work between ten o’clock in the evening and six o’ clock in the morning of the following day.
• Sleeping time as well as travel time of a child engaged in public entertainment or information from his/her residence to his/her workplace shall not be included as hours worked without prejudice to the application of existing rules on employees compensation. 
• “Normal development of the child” 
• refers to the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual growth of a child within a safe and nurturing environment where he/she is given adequate nourishment, care and protection and the opportunity to perform tasks appropriate at each stage of development. 

Prohibition on the Employment of Children in Worst Forms of Child Labor

 No child shall be engaged in the worst forms of child labor. The phrase “worst forms of child labor” shall refer to any of the following:

• All forms of slavery, as defined under the “Anti-trafficking in Persons Act of 2003”, or practices similar to slavery such as sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labor, including recruitment of children for use in armed conflict.
• The use, procuring, offering or exposing of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances;
• The use, procuring or offering of a child for illegal or illicit activities, including the production or trafficking of dangerous drugs or volatile substances prohibited under existing laws; or
• Work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is hazardous or likely to be harmful to the health, safety or morals of children, such that it:
1. Debases, degrades or demeans the intrinsic worth and dignity of a child as a human being; or
2. Exposes the child to physical, emotional or sexual abuse, or is found to be highly stressful psychologically or may prejudice morals; or
3. Is performed underground, underwater or at dangerous heights; or
4. Involves the use of dangerous machinery, equipment and tools such as power-driven or explosive power-actuated tools; or
5. Exposes the child to physical danger such as, but not limited to the dangerous feats of balancing, physical strength or contortion, or which requires the manual transport of heavy loads; or
6. Is performed in an unhealthy environment exposing the child to hazardous working conditions, elements, substances, co-agents or processes involving ionizing, radiation, fire, flammable substances, noxious components and the like, or to extreme temperatures, noise levels or vibrations; or
7. Is performed under particularly difficult conditions; or
8. Exposes the child to biological agents such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, protozoa, nematodes and other parasites; or
9. Involves the manufacture or handling of explosives and other pyrotechnic products.
• “Forced Labor and Slavery” 
• refer to the extraction of work or services from any person by means of enticement, violence, intimidation or threat, use of force or coercion, including deprivation of freedom, abuse of authority or moral ascendancy, debt-bondage or deception.
• “Trafficking”
• refers to act of trading and dealing with children including, but not limited to, the act of buying and selling of a child for money, or for any other consideration, or barter.
• “Trafficking in Persons” 
• refers to the recruitment, transportation, transfer or harboring, or receipt of persons with or without the victim's consent or knowledge, within or across national borders by means of threat or use of force, or other forms of coercion, abduction, fraud, deception, abuse of power or of position, taking advantage of the vulnerability of the person, or, the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation which includes at a minimum, the exploitation or the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery, servitude or the removal or sale of organs. The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation shall also be considered as "trafficking in persons" even if it does not involve any of the means set forth in the preceding paragraph.
• “Debt Bondage”
• refers to the pledging by the debtor of his/her personal services or labor or those of a person under his/her control as security or payment for a debt, when the length and nature of services is not clearly defined or when the value of the services as reasonably assessed is not applied toward the liquidation of the debt.
• “Children as Zones of Peace”
• Children are hereby declared as Zones of Peace. It shall be the responsibility of the State and all other sectors concerned to resolve armed conflicts in order to promote the goal of children as zones of peace. To attain this objective, the law lays down policies that need to be observed.
• “Prostitution”
• refers to any act, transaction, scheme or design involving the use of a person by another, for sexual intercourse or lascivious conduct in exchange for money, profit or any other consideration.
• “Pornography”
• refers to any representation, through publication, exhibition, cinematography, indecent shows, information technology, or by whatever means, of a person engaged in real or simulated explicit sexual activities or any representation of the sexual parts of a person for primarily sexual purposes.
• “Sexual Exploitation”
• refers to participation by a person in prostitution or the production of pornographic materials as a result of being subjected to a threat, deception, coercion, abduction, force, abuse of authority, debt bondage, fraud or through abuse of a victim's vulnerability.

Prohibition on the Employment of Children in Certain Advertisements

• No child below 18 years of age shall be employed as a model in any advertisement directly or indirectly promoting:
1. alcoholic beverages, 
2. intoxicating drinks, 
3. tobacco and its byproducts, 
4. gambling or 
5. any form of violence or pornography

Hours of Work of a Working Child 

• The following hours of work shall be observed for any child allowed to work:
• below 15 years of age
• the hours of work shall not be more than twenty hours a week, provided that the work shall not be more than four hours at any given day;
• 15 years of age but below 18
• the hours of work shall not be more than eight hours a day, and in no case beyond 40 hours a week; and
• No child 
• below 15 years of age 
• shall be allowed to work between eight o’ clock in the evening and six o’clock in the morning of the following day 
• 15 years of age but below 18 
• shall be allowed to work between ten o’clock in the evening and six o’ clock in the morning of the following day.
• Sleeping time as well as travel time of a child engaged in public entertainment or information from his/her residence to his/her workplace shall not be included as hours worked without prejudice to the application of existing rules on employees compensation. 

Summer or Christmas Vacation Employment

• R.A. No. 7323, approved on March 30 1992, aims to help poor but deserving students to pursue their education by encouraging their employment during summer and/or Christmas vacations. 
• It allows employers, employing at least 50 persons, to pay those students only 60% of their salaries or wages and 40% through education vouchers to be paid by the government.
• But the wages must met the legal minimum.