Since the issuance of the Labor Code of the Philippines on 1 May 1974, changes in the socio-economic-political landscape have taken place, which altered the face of the world of work, and in turn, caused government to make policy shifts on labor and employment.  These policy changes are embodied in enacted laws, which either modified, superseded, amended or simply rendered obsolete certain provisions in the Labor Code. However, some provisions of the controlling laws are not reflected therein as these do not expressly repeal or modify the Labor Code provisions.

This situation calls for the re-codification of the Labor Code to make it reflective of the changes that have taken place.  However, the process of recodification or updating requires time because it has to go through the legislative mill.  Meanwhile, there is an urgent need to reflect the changes to help foster a better understanding of labor laws.  The Integrated Labor and labor-Related Laws, therefore, attempts to put together all enactments affecting or governing labor and employment, which are in force to date.

The format of presentation uses the outline of the existing Labor Code of the Philippines as amended, as the framework for the integration of relevant laws. Provisions deemed obsolete, superseded, repealed or modified are marked with an asterisk (*), and its exact wordings are placed at the repealed modified or superseded provisions. On the other hand, laws that affect the entire Title or Chapter are reflected after the affected Title or Chapter, either in full text or selected relevant provisions only as the case may be.  Notes, which are denoted by number, could either be an explanation, a commentary or additional information referring to a definition, an amendment of the law, a supporting piece of legislation or simply an instruction.

Jurisprudence on Statutory Construction on repeal and amendment of statue, such as People v. Almuete (69 SCRA 410 [1976]); Mecano v. Coa (216 SCRA 500 [1992]); Hagad v. Dozo-Dadole (251 SCRA 242 [1995]); and Agujetas v. CA (261 SCRA 17 [1996]), provided the guiding principles in integrating labor and labor-related laws into the existing provisions of the Labor Code.

Moreover, any provision of the Code referring to the Ministry of Labor and Employment, Minister, Deputy Minister, and Assistant Minister have been changed in this compilation to Department of Labor and Employment, Secretary, Undersecretary, and Assistant Secretary, respectively.  The changed in nomenclature, as mandated in Section 30 of Executive Order No. 126, issued in 1987, is due to the change in the form of government from parliamentary to presidential.

It is hoped that this book could be a user-friendly reference for students, law practitioners and the general public for a better understanding of existing labor laws, and provide a good basis for a comprehensive review of the Labor Code to make it more responsive to the demands of the next millennium.