NLRC resolving labor cases faster

MANILA, Philippines - Workers need not wait for years to see the resolution of their labor complaints against erring employers.

The National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) yesterday reported that pending labor cases are now being resolved faster despite insufficient number of labor arbiters and limited facilities.

Chairman Gerardo Nograles said the NLRC has initiated programs to improve the disposition of cases and service to the public.

Based on NLRC data, the average number of cases under disposition at the Regional Arbitration Branches (RAB) exceeded the annual average cases filed before the commission in past years.

Since 2007, the NLRC’s RAB has resolved over 32,000 labor cases while the agency has disposed an average of 11,000 cases yearly, leading to a significant reduction in the number of cases.

From 15,125 cases in 2006, the RAB posted 12,827 cases in 2007.

In 2011, the NLRC resolved cases went down to 2,443, while that of the RAB dropped to 9,663.

The RAB handles original cases, some of which get elevated to the NLRC for review.

With the assumption to office of Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz in 2010, the NLRC also implemented the Speedy and Efficient Delivery of Labor Justice (SpeED), a project designed to resolve labor cases within six months.

Of all the Department of Labor and Employment attached agencies and offices tasked to implement SpeED, the NLRC obtained the highest percentage of enrolled and disposed cases.

As of Sept. 30, the RAB has already disposed 94 percent or  9,007 of the 9,612 enrolled cases. The commission, for its part accomplished 99 percent or disposed 2,453 of the 2,472 pending cases in the first nine months of the year.