Short answer. Employers who refuse to grant paternity leave under RA 8187 can face a fine of up to twenty-five thousand pesos or imprisonment of thirty days to six months. If the employer is a corporation or similar entity, that imprisonment falls on the responsible officer, such as the president or general manager, rather than the company itself.
What the law says
Any person, corporation, trust, firm, partnership, association or entity found violating this Act or the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder shall be punished by a fine not exceeding Twenty-five thousand pesos (P25,000) or imprisonment of not less than thirty (30) days nor more than six (6) months.
RA 8187, Section 5 — Fine Or Imprisonment For Violators. Read the full provision →
The penalty RA 8187 imposes
Section 5 of RA 8187 penalizes any person, corporation, trust, firm, partnership, association or entity found violating the Act or its implementing rules. The penalty is a fine not exceeding twenty-five thousand pesos, or imprisonment of not less than thirty days nor more than six months. Because a refusal to grant the paternity leave the law requires is a violation of the Act itself, this penalty provision is what backs up the entitlement to paternity leave with a real consequence for an employer who denies it.
Why imprisonment falls on individuals, not the company itself
An entity like a corporation cannot literally be imprisoned, so Section 5 addresses that directly: if the violation is committed by a corporation, trust or firm, partnership, association or any other entity, the penalty of imprisonment shall be imposed on the entity's responsible officers. This includes, but is not limited to, the president, vice-president, chief executive officer, general manager, managing director, or partner directly responsible for the violation, rather than the company as an abstraction.
What found violating implies about the process
Section 5 speaks of a person or entity found violating the Act, which reflects that this penalty follows from an actual determination that a violation occurred, rather than applying automatically the moment an employee believes leave was wrongly denied. The fine and imprisonment described here represent the consequence once that violation has been established, rather than a description of the entire path an employee must take to raise the issue in the first place.
What this means for an employee facing a refusal
Knowing that RA 8187 backs the paternity leave entitlement with a real fine and imprisonment penalty can matter when you are trying to get an employer to comply, since a bare request is not the only leverage available to you. The specific responsible officer who denied your leave, not merely the company as an abstract entity, is who Section 5 exposes to the imprisonment penalty if a violation is established, which is worth keeping in mind when documenting who within the company actually made that decision.