The Single Entry Approach (SEnA) of DOLE has proven anew its efficacy in resolving a labor dispute when the complaint filed by fourteen (14) construction workers was settled.

Every year, Department of Labor and Employment – Batangas Provincial Office’s (DOLE BPO) received numerous Requests for Assistance (RFA) on cases involving illegal dismissal, underpayment of wages, non-payment of over-time pay, holiday pay and thirteenth month pay, non-coverage of social protection benefits under SSS, Philhealth, and Pag-ibig, and illegal dismissal cases.

According to Ms. Ann Jelyn Natividad, Senior Labor and Employment Officer and the assigned Single Entry Approach Desk Officer (SEADO), the workers filed RFA through E-SEnA, a free online service platform for people seeking conciliation and mediation on labor issues and conflicts, on grounds of non-payment of 13th month pay and overtime pay.

On 20 December 2022, following two face-to-face conferences, the complaint was finally settled, and paved the way for the release of the 13th-month pay and overtime pay of the fourteen (14) construction workers amounting to P 177,385.28.

Workers expressed their gratitude to the DOLE BPO for extending valuable assistance in resolving their complaint and helping them get what is due to them.

They are just few of the hundreds of workers who asked for assistance on their unresolved issues or complaints arising from employer-employee relations.

DOLE BPO continues to put their best efforts to attend to and amicably settle labor disputes/issues brought before their office.

The SEnA is a 30-day mandatory conciliation-mediation which seeks to provide a speedy, impartial, inexpensive, and accessible settlement service for unresolved grievances and complaint arising from employer-employee relations to prevent them from ripening into full-blown disputes or actual labor cases.

It complements the existing labor dispute settlement mechanisms and processes in the DOLE offices to settle unresolved issues or complaints arising from employer-employee relations.

To make the SEnA more accessible, E-SEnA was developed to easily facilitate requests for the conduct of conciliation-mediation under SEnA.


by:

April Rose Magpantay
LEO III