The Single Entry Approach is the compulsory conciliation-mediation stop that almost every workplace dispute in the Philippines must pass through before a formal case can be filed. It exists so that pay disagreements, dismissal disagreements, benefit disputes and other employment issues get a chance to settle informally before they turn into a contested proceeding. This page walks through what a Request for Assistance is, where to lodge it, how the conference works, and what happens when the parties agree or fail to agree.
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Understand what the Single Entry Approach is and why it comes first
The Labor Code, as amended by RA 10396, provides that all issues arising from labor and employment shall be subject to mandatory conciliation-mediation before the labor arbiter or the appropriate DOLE agency will entertain the case. That is the SEnA channel. Two narrow bands are excepted: matters covered by Title VII-A, Book V of the Labor Code (voluntary arbitration of grievances under a collective bargaining agreement) and issues the Secretary of Labor and Employment has excepted by regulation. Everything else, from an unpaid final pay complaint against a small employer to a claim of illegal dismissal, must go through this channel first.
Republic Act No. 10396 — Strengthening Conciliation-Mediation as a Voluntary Mode of Dispute Settlement for All Labor Cases (2013), Article 228. Read the source →
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Prepare a Request for Assistance
A Single Entry Approach case begins with a Request for Assistance, not a formal complaint. The Request for Assistance is a short intake form stating who the worker is, who the employer is, and what the issue is (unpaid wages, non-payment of final pay, illegal dismissal, non-remittance of SSS or PhilHealth contributions, and so on). No filing fee is required, no lawyer is required, and no verified pleading is required. Bring an employment contract, payslips, appointment or termination papers, and any written communications with the employer if you have them; if not, the desk officer will still accept the request.
Republic Act No. 10396 — Strengthening Conciliation-Mediation as a Voluntary Mode of Dispute Settlement for All Labor Cases (2013), Article 228. Read the source →
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Lodge the request at the nearest DOLE office or attached agency
The Request for Assistance is filed at any DOLE Regional, Provincial or Field Office, or at an attached agency such as the National Conciliation and Mediation Board or the National Labor Relations Commission. The office that receives the request assigns it to a Single Entry Assistance Desk Officer, who is trained to conduct conciliation-mediation. Filing at the wrong office does not defeat the request — the receiving office endorses it to the proper one.
Republic Act No. 10396 — Strengthening Conciliation-Mediation as a Voluntary Mode of Dispute Settlement for All Labor Cases (2013), Article 228. Read the source →
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Attend the conciliation-mediation conference
The Single Entry Assistance Desk Officer calls both parties to a conference. The role of the officer is not to decide the case but to help the parties talk, narrow the dispute, and reach a voluntary settlement. Either party may bring a representative. Because this stage is preliminary, positions and offers made here do not bind the parties in a later case if no settlement is reached — the value of the conference is that a written agreement, if one comes out of it, is enforceable.
Republic Act No. 10396 — Strengthening Conciliation-Mediation as a Voluntary Mode of Dispute Settlement for All Labor Cases (2013), Article 228. Read the source →
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If the parties settle, reduce the agreement to writing
A settlement reached before the desk officer is reduced to writing, signed by the parties in the officer's presence, and attested. The agreement is then treated as final and immediately enforceable — the employer cannot walk it back later, and the worker who has been paid the settled amount cannot ordinarily reopen the same claim. The written agreement is the value this step adds: an oral promise at the plant gate is not enforceable, but the same promise written up at the desk is.
Republic Act No. 10396 — Strengthening Conciliation-Mediation as a Voluntary Mode of Dispute Settlement for All Labor Cases (2013), Article 228. Read the source →
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If no settlement is reached, get the referral
Any or both parties involved in the dispute may pre-terminate the conciliation-mediation proceedings and request referral or endorsement to the appropriate DOLE agency or office which has jurisdiction over the dispute, or, if both parties so agree, refer the unresolved issues to voluntary arbitration. The referral is what unlocks the next forum: without it, the labor arbiter cannot entertain the case.
Republic Act No. 10396 — Strengthening Conciliation-Mediation as a Voluntary Mode of Dispute Settlement for All Labor Cases (2013), Article 228. Read the source →
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Where the case goes next: the P5,000 line and the reinstatement fork
For pure money claims of P5,000 or less that do not include a prayer for reinstatement, the case goes to the DOLE Regional Director under Article 129 of the Labor Code, which authorises summary recovery of wages and simple money claims. Anything larger, and any claim that includes a demand for reinstatement, goes to the Labor Arbiter under Article 217 of the Labor Code, which vests original and exclusive jurisdiction in the labor arbiters over termination disputes and money claims of the kind that need a full proceeding.
Presidential Decree No. 442, the Labor Code of the Philippines (as originally enacted 1974, amended), Article 129. Read the source →
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The 30-day decision clock at the Regional Director level
If the case ends up at the Regional Director because it is a simple money claim under Article 129, the officer is required to decide or resolve the complaint within thirty (30) calendar days from the date of the filing. That period runs from filing at the Regional Office, not from the earlier Single Entry Approach conference.
Presidential Decree No. 442, the Labor Code of the Philippines (as originally enacted 1974, amended), Article 129. Read the source →