Text of the provision

Art. 291. Money claims. All money claims arising from employer-employee relations accruing during the effectivity of this Code shall be filed within three

(3) years from the time the cause of action accrued; otherwise they shall be forever barred. All money claims accruing prior to the effectivity of this Code shall be filed with the appropriate entities established under this Code within one

(1) year from the date of effectivity, and shall be processed or determined in accordance with the implementing rules and regulations of the Code; otherwise, they shall be forever barred. Workmen’s compensation claims accruing prior to the effectivity of this Code and during the period from November 1, 1974 up to December 31, 1974, shall be filed with the appropriate regional offices of the Department of Labor not later than March 31, 1975; otherwise, they shall forever be barred. The claims shall be processed and adjudicated in accordance with the law and rules at the time their causes of action accrued.

Labor Code of the Philippines, Presidential Decree No. 442, as amended. Reproduced in full from the official enactment and verified against the LawPhil and ChanRobles renderings.

What this article means

Money claims from employer–employee relations accruing while this Code is in force must be filed within three (3) years from when the cause of action accrued, or they are forever barred. Claims that accrued before the Code took effect had to be filed with the proper entities within one (1) year from the date of effectivity, and workmen’s compensation claims accruing before effectivity and from November 1, 1974 to December 31, 1974 had to be filed with the Department of Labor regional offices not later than March 31, 1975. Such claims are decided under the law and rules in force when the cause of action accrued.

Questions about this provision

Related provisions

A note on article numbers. The articles of the Labor Code have been administratively renumbered, so the same provision is often cited under a different number. Supreme Court decisions write both, in the form “Article 297 [282]” — the new number first, the original in brackets. The text on this page is published under its original number, which is the numbering both source texts use. When citing, check which numbering your source follows.

Cases interpreting this article

Note. The text of the provision above is reproduced in full from the official enactment (Presidential Decree No. 442), verified against the LawPhil and ChanRobles renderings. The Labor Code has been amended many times; this page reproduces the text as those sources carry it. The annotation and commentary around it are the work of Vivas & Nobles Law Office and are general legal information, not legal advice. How a provision applies to a particular situation depends on facts that only a lawyer reviewing your case can assess.