Short answer. A fine of not less than five hundred pesos nor more than five thousand pesos, imprisonment of six months to one year, or both, at the court's discretion. Article 203 bans any agent, attorney, or other person from charging a fee for preparing or filing a benefit claim, and any contrary stipulation is void.
What the law says
No agent, attorney or other person pursuing or in charge of the preparation or filing of any claim for benefit under this Title shall demand or charge for his services any fee, and any stipulation to the contrary shall be null and void.
Labor Code, Article 203 — No Fees For Claims. Read the full provision →
What the law says
The retention or deduction of any amount from any benefit granted under this Title for the payment of fees for such services is prohibited.
Labor Code, Article 203 — No Fees For Claims. Read the full provision →
What the law says
Violation of any provision of this Article shall be punished by a fine of not less than five hundred pesos nor more than five thousand pesos, or imprisonment for not less than six months nor more than one year, or both, at the discretion of the court.
Labor Code, Article 203 — No Fees For Claims. Read the full provision →
The underlying prohibition
Article 203 sets a flat prohibition on charging for this kind of help. It states that no agent, attorney or other person pursuing or in charge of the preparation or filing of any claim for benefit under this Title shall demand or charge for his services any fee. This covers anyone assisting with a benefit claim under the relevant Title of the Labor Code — not just lawyers, but agents and other persons handling the preparation or filing of the claim on someone's behalf.
The penalty for violating it
For actually violating this prohibition, the article sets out a specific penalty: violation of any provision of this Article shall be punished by a fine of not less than five hundred pesos nor more than five thousand pesos, or imprisonment for not less than six months nor more than one year, or both, at the discretion of the court. The court decides, within those ranges, whether to impose a fine, imprisonment, or both, depending on the circumstances of the violation.
Why a contrary agreement doesn't help
The article also closes off an obvious workaround: any stipulation to the contrary shall be null and void. So even if the person charging the fee got you to sign an agreement or acknowledgment accepting that fee, that agreement does not make the charge lawful — the article voids any stipulation that tries to contract around the no-fee rule.
The separate ban on deducting fees from the benefit
Beyond banning the fee outright, the article separately addresses a subtler way the same result could be achieved: the retention or deduction of any amount from any benefit granted under this Title for the payment of fees for such services is prohibited. This means the fee cannot be quietly taken out of the benefit itself once it is awarded, closing off the possibility of collecting the fee indirectly by deducting it from what the claimant actually receives.