Short answer. No. Article 67 bars any action to enforce an apprenticeship agreement, or to claim damages for its breach, unless the person suing has exhausted all available administrative remedies first. The administrative route is not an optional alternative to court — it comes before it.

What the law says

No person shall institute any action for the enforcement of any apprenticeship agreement or damages for breach of any such agreement, unless he has exhausted all available administrative remedies.

Labor Code, Article 67 — Exhaustion Of Administrative Remedies. Read the full provision →

Both kinds of claim are covered

The bar catches two things that people often assume are treated differently: an action for the enforcement of any apprenticeship agreement, and one for damages for breach. So recasting a dispute about the training itself as a money claim does not open the courthouse door. Whether you want the agreement performed, the apprenticeship credited, or compensation for what went wrong, the same precondition applies. What changes is only what you ask for at the end, not where you begin.

What exhaustion actually asks of you

The requirement is that you have used all available administrative remedies, which means going through the process to its end rather than merely starting it. A complaint filed and then abandoned, or a decision received and never appealed within the period allowed, generally leaves the remedy unexhausted — you had it available and did not take it. That is why the appeal deadlines in this chapter matter beyond the appeal itself: letting one pass can quietly close the court route as well.

Why the law routes it this way

Apprenticeship disputes turn on things the labour administration already regulates: whether the programme was recognised, what the agreement had to contain, what the applicable wage and training terms were. Sending those questions first to the body that supervises the programmes puts them in front of the people who hold the records and set the standards, and it usually resolves them faster and at far less cost than litigation. The rule is about sequence and competence rather than about shutting anyone out.

Where this leaves you

If you are considering a case, the first question to answer is not how strong it is but which administrative step is still open to you and how long you have. Keep the apprenticeship agreement, anything showing the programme's status, your records of hours and pay, and the dated copies of every complaint and decision along the way — that paper trail is what later shows the remedies were in fact exhausted. Get advice before a period lapses rather than after.

Related provisions

Note. Statute text quoted on this page is reproduced from the official enactment and is linked to the full provision. The explanation around it is general legal information from Vivas & Nobles Law Office, not legal advice. Whether it applies to your situation depends on facts only a lawyer reviewing them can assess.