[ Acts No. 4123, December 09, 1933 ]
AN ACT TO REGULATE THE NUMBER OF HOURS OF LABOR FOR CERTAIN CLASSES OF LABORERS, ESTABLISH PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS OF THE PROVISIONS HEREOF, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Legislature assembled and by the authority of the same:
Section 1. Except as herein otherwise provided, the legal working day for laborers who habitually do hard work requiring great physical effort or who work under normally difficult, dangerous, or unhealthful conditions, as hereinafter specified, shall be of not more than eight hours daily. When the work is not continuous, the time during which the laborer is not working and can rest completely shall not be counted.
Section 2. This Act shall apply to the following laborers and classes of laborers:
a. Stokers and laborers exposed to the heat of foundries, forges, and boilers or employed in rooms where ordinarily a high temperature is maintained;
b. Those exposed to the action of deleterious working under conditions injurious to health;
c. Those using or handling explosives or harmful substances or employed in the production thereof;
d. Laborers employed in quarries, mines, or underground work.
e. Those who operate or work with machinery of such size, power or condition that it may cause death or serious injuries in case of an accident;
f. Those working with steel, iron, and other heavy metals in foundries and construction or repair shops;
g. Those employed in loading and discharging ships and in similar work in warehouses.
Section 3. The Commissioner of Labor, with the advice of two representatives of the employees concerned, designated by the latter, and of two representatives of the laborers concerned, designated by these, shall, at the request of an interested party, decide in each case whether or not it is proper to increase or decrease the number of hours of labor fixed in section one of this Act, either because the organization or nature of the work require it, or because of lack or insufficiency of competent laborers for certain work in a locality, or because the relieving of laborers must be done under certain conditions, or by reason of any other exceptional circumstances or conditions of the work or industry concerned; but the number of hours of labor shall in no case exceed twelve daily or seventy-two weekly.
Section 4. Employers or laborers desiring an increase or decrease of the number of hours of labor shall address an application to this effect to the Commissioner of Labor, stating their reasons. Upon receipt of an application of this kind, the Commissioner of Labor shall call a meeting of the employers and laborers of the establishment or industry concerned, for the designation of advisers as provided in the preceding section hereof. The Commissioner of Labor or his authorized representative, together with the advisers, shall make an investigation of the facts, giving special attention, in the first place, to the human aspect, and in the second place, to the economic aspect of the matter, and he may for this purpose administer oaths, take affidavits, examine witnesses and documents and issue subpoenas and subpoenas duces tecum. The decision of the Commissioner of Labor may be reconsidered by him at any time.
Section 5. If, owing to some fortuitous cause or unforeseen or inevitable delay, or to a casual necessity of avoiding a serious loss which the employer would otherwise suffer, or some other just cause of a similar nature, it should be necessary to increase the number of labor hours on any given day beyond that fixed in section one or authorized by the Commissioner of Labor in accordance with sections three and four of this Act, the laborers may work overtime and shall in that case be entitled to receive compensation for the overtime work performed at the same rate as their regular wages or salary, and at least twenty per centum additional, except laborers who have intentionally caused the accident, delay or necessity of working overtime.
Section 6. When an employer and his laborers have by mutual agreement laid off working during ordinary working hours, to celebrate some event or holiday or for any other hours of labor so lost may be recuperated by the same as overtime over several days preceding or following the day on which no work was done. By mutual agreement between the employer and the laborers concerned, hours during which work had to be stopped because of force majeure, the condition of the sea or weather, interruption of the motive power or shortage of raw material not due to any fault of the employer, may also be recuperated in the manner above indicated. Payment for hours of labor so recuperated shall be made at the ordinary rate of wages or compensation, without any extra percentage.
Section 7. The provisions of this Act shall not be construed as prohibiting overtime work performed in unusual emergencies caused by serious accidents, fire, flood, typhoon, earthquake, or other disaster or calamity, in order to prevent imminent serious damage to life or property or to remedy the damage or harm done by such accidents.
Section 8. Any employer having laborers subject to the provisions of this Act who shall require more time than that between the approval of this Act and the date when the same takes effect, for readjusting his labor conditions shall, before this Act takes effect, file with the Commissioner of Labor an application stating the additional time required for making the readjustment above mentioned and the reasons for which such extension of time is requested. The Commissioner of Labor, after investigation by himself or his authorized representative, shall grant or deny the application or grant a shorter extension of time, and if such extension of time is granted, the employer shall during the same be exempt from the obligation to keep the legal hours of labor. If an extension of time has been granted and the same is in the judgment of the employer not sufficient for the purpose specified in this section, said employer may file a new application in the same manner as prescribed for the first, during the first time extension granted, and the Commissioner of Labor shall act on such second application in the same manner as provided for the first.
Section 9. This Act shall be applicable to all work enumerated in section two thereof which is directed or carried on by administration or in the name of the Insular Government or of the government of any province, municipality or other political subdivision of the Philippine Islands, or directed, managed, or carried on by contractors or subcontractors for the benefit of any such government.
Section 10. The Commissioner of Labor, or by delegation by him the Director of Labor or any other authorized representative, shall from time to time inspect the establishments or places of work subject to the provisions hereof, shall promulgate rules and regulations to facilitate the carrying out of the purposes of this Act, and shall, in general, watch over the enforcement of its provisions.
Section 11. Any violation of this Act by either employers or laborers shall be punished by a fine of not more than one hundred pesos, or by imprisonment for not more than ten days, or both, in the discretion of the court. The same 4 penalty shall be incurred by persons whose duty it is to comply with this Act and who are authorized to enforce the same, but who cause or allow its provisions to be violated, and by any person disobeying a legal order of the Commissioner of Labor issued in accordance with this Act. In case such violation is committed in works of the Insular Government or of the government of any province, municipality or other political subdivision of the Philippine Islands, the officer having direct control and supervision over : such works shall be held liable.
Section 12. A committee is hereby created of which the Commissioner of Labor shall be the chairman and the members whereof shall be appointed by the Governor-General within the forty days next following the approval of this Act and shall be, two representatives of the employers, two representatives of the laborers, a qualified physician, and a person interested in charitable work or social worker. This Committee shall make a survey of the conditions of labor in the several industries or places of labor of the Islands and shall determine the propriety of applying the legal labor hours to, or otherwise regulating the working hours of, those laborers or classes of laborers who are not yet subject to the provisions of this Act, taking into consideration the interests of the employers and laborers concerned, of the industry in general, and of society as a whole, and shall submit to the Governor-General and the presiding officers of both Houses of the Legislature, during the first ten days of the ensuing session of the Legislature, a report of the pertinent facts found, together with their conclusions and recommendations.
Section 13. This Act shall take effect on March first, nineteen hundred and thirty-four.1aшphi1
Approved, December 9, 1933.
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