THIRTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
Second Regular Session 
INTRODUCED BY SEN. MANNY VILLAR 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
Under out present labor laws, employers are allowed to engage the services of 
employees under such stipulations, clauses, terms and conditions that said parties may 
deem appropriate provided that they are not contrary to law. Indeed, the employers may 
hire employees under written or oral contracts. Experience however abundantly indicate 
that employees, whenever they institute complaints against their employers, find it 
difficult to prove the terms and conditions of their employment, or even the employer- 
employee relations itself, as employers invariably fail, by design or omission, to furnish 
the employees copies of the employment contracts. Under Article 280 of the Labor 
Code, the employer is authorized to engage the services of an employee under either a 
written or oral contract by providing thus: 
"ART. 280. Regular and Casual Employment. - The provisions 
of written agreement to the contrary notwithstanding and regardless of the 
oral agreement of the parties, an employment shall be deemed to be 
regular where the employee has been engaged to perform activities 
which are usually necessary or desirable in the usual business or trade of 
the employer, except where the employment has been fixed for a specific 
project or undertaking the completion or termination of which has been 
determined at the time of the engagement of the employee or where the 
work or service to be performed is seasonal in nature and the 
employment is for the duration of the season. 
An employment shall be deemed to be casual if it is not covered 
by the preceding paragraph: Provided, That any employee who has 
rendered at least one year of service, whether such service is continuous 
or broken, shall be considered a regular employee with respect to the 
activity in which he is employed and his employment shall continue while 
such activity exists." 
This Bill seeks to require the employers to furnish the employees copies of the 
employment contracts in cases where employment engagement are reduced into writing 
and to make a sworn declaration to this effect. 
Passage of this Bill is earnestly sought. 


THIRTEENTH CONGRESS OF THfl 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES 
Second Regular Session 
* 
2 ’  i1y 
S E N A T E  
Senate Bill NO. 2 2 8 6 
INTRODUCED BY SEN. MANNY VILLAR 
AN ACT 
REQUIRING EMPLOYERS TO FURNISH EMPLOYEES COPIES OF THE 
EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS AND TO MAKE A SWORN DECLARATION 
THEREFOR, AMENDING FOR THIS PURPOSE ARTICLE 279 OF 
PRESIDENTIAL DECREE NO. 442, AS’AMENDED, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS 
“THE LABOR CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES” 
it- 
Be>enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the 
Philippines in Congress assembled: 
SECTION 1. Article 279 of Presidential Decree No. 442, as amended, 
otherwise known as the “Labor Code of the Philippines”, is hereby further 
amended to read as follows: 
“ART. 279. Security of Tenure. - In cases of regular 
employment, the employer shall not terminate the services of an 
employee except for a just cause or when authorized by this Title. 
An employee who is unjustly dismissed from work shall be entitled 
to reinstatement without loss of seniority rights and other privileges 
and to his full backwages, inclusive of allowances, and to his other 
benefits or their monetary equivalent computed from the time his 
compensation was withheld from him up to the time of his actual 
reinstatement. 
IN CASES WHERE EMPLOYMENT AGREEMENTS ARE 
REDUCED INTO WRITING, EMPLOYERS ARE REQUIRED TO 
FURNISH EMPLOYEES COPIES THEREOF AND TO MAKE A 
DECLARATION UNDER OATH THAT THE EMPLOYEES DULY 
RECEIVED THEIR RESPECTIVE EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS: 
PROVIDED, THAT IN THE CASE OF CORPORATIONS, 
PARTNERSHIPS, 
OR 
ASSOCIATIONS, 
THE 
PRESIDENT, 
MANAGER OR PERSONNEL OFFICER IN CHARGE OF HUMAN 
RESOURCE MATTERS SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY VIOLATION 
UNDER THIS PARAGRAPH.” 


SECTION 2. All laws, rules and regulations inconsistent with this Act are 
hereby repealed, amended or modified accordingly. 
SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication 
in the Official Gazette or in at least two (2) national newspapers of general 
circulation, whichever comes earlier. 
Approved,