Short answer. Yes. Article 297 of the Labor Code explicitly preserves this right. Claims may be filed against insurance carriers or self-insured employers for causes of action that accrued during the existence of the old policy or authority to self-insure, even after the Labor Code took effect.
What the law says
Claims may be filed against the insurance carriers and/or self-insured employers for causes of action which accrued during the existence of said policies or authority to self-insure.
Labor Code, Article 297 — Existing Policies And Bonds. Read the full provision →
What happened to old workmen's compensation policies when the Labor Code took effect
The Labor Code established a new framework for work-related injuries and disabilities when it took effect in 1974. But it did not simply erase the policies and self-insurance arrangements that employers had in place under the old Workmen's Compensation Act. Article 297 provided a transition: all workmen's compensation insurance policies and indemnity bonds for self-insured employers existing upon the effectivity of this Code shall remain in force and effect until those policies expired or those bonds lapsed, though not beyond December 31, 1974. For workers, this meant that an injury suffered while an old policy was in force was still covered by that policy, even after the new Code came into being.
The preserved right to file claims
The clearest protection Article 297 gives workers is the right to file against the old system. Claims may be filed against the insurance carriers and/or self-insured employers for causes of action which accrued during the existence of said policies or authority to self-insure. The key question for any such claim is whether the cause of action — the injury, the illness, or the event giving rise to the claim — happened while the old policy was still active. If it did, the worker retains the right to pursue that claim against the carrier or the self-insured employer under the rules that governed at the time the injury occurred.
Why the timing of the injury matters so much
A claim filed today for an injury that happened in 1973, before the Labor Code took effect, would be evaluated under the Workmen's Compensation Act and the corresponding policy, not under the current Employee Compensation system administered by the Social Security System or the Government Service Insurance System. The cut-off is when the cause of action accrued — when the injury happened or became compensable — not when the worker decided to file. This distinction can matter enormously for older injuries where the applicable standards, benefits, and responsible parties differ significantly from those under the current framework.
Note on article numbering
The Labor Code's articles have been administratively renumbered over the years. The provision on existing policies and bonds is published here under its original number, Article 297. If you encounter a different article number in an older court decision or legal document referring to what appears to be the same rule, it may reflect the renumbering. The text of the rule itself has not changed, and the preservation of claims against old-policy carriers remains intact as originally enacted.