SEnA: The 30-Day Step Before Any Labor Case

Almost no labor complaint in the Philippines starts at the labor arbiter. It starts at a desk, with a form called a Request for Assistance, and a clock of 30 days. That step is the Single Entry Approach, and skipping it is why cases get bounced.

The statute is Republic Act No. 10396, approved 14 March 2013. The operating rules are Department Order No. 249, Series of 2025, the revised implementing rules of Article 234 [228] of the Labor Code.

The rule that sends you there first

RA 10396 inserted a new article into the Labor Code, and the sentence that matters is short:

All issues arising from labor and employment shall be subject to mandatory conciliation-mediation. The labor arbiter or the appropriate DOLE agency or office that has jurisdiction over the dispute shall entertain only endorsed or referred cases by the duly authorized officer.

So the arbiter is not refusing your case on a technicality. Under the Act it can only take cases that arrived through this door.

Either party may also pre-terminate the conciliation-mediation and ask for referral to the office with jurisdiction, or, if both agree, send the unresolved issues to voluntary arbitration.

The clock

Everything in SEnA hangs off one period, and it is worth knowing exactly when it starts. The Rules count these as calendar days.

The 30 days does not run from the day you file. It runs from the initial conference where both parties appeared, which is a different and usually later date.

Taken end to end, a request that uses every period the Rules allow runs 10 days to the initial conference, then 30 days of conciliation, then a mutually agreed 15 days, for 55 days before referral. That total is arithmetic on the three published periods, not a figure DO 249 prints, and the common case is shorter because the initial conference is set within 5 days.

Who files, and where

Any requesting party may file. The NCMB classifies them into 6 categories: individual worker, group of workers, union, overseas Filipino worker, kasambahay or family driver, and employer. Note the last one. SEnA is not only for employees.

Filing is physical at the SEAD of the DOLE, NCMB or NLRC office nearest your residence, or at the union or chapter’s place of operation, or at the employer’s principal place of business, at your election. It may also be filed through the SEnA online filing system.

Where you file outside the region the employer principally operates in, coordinated conciliation-mediation applies and 2 or more desks handle it between them.

What SEnA does not cover

“All issues” has a list of exceptions, and landing in one means going elsewhere rather than waiting out the 30 days.

Claims against SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG sit in that seventh row. The SSS contribution guide and the Pag-IBIG contribution guide cover what those agencies require, which is a separate track from a labor complaint.

No lawyers, mostly

Conciliation-mediation is described in the Rules as non-litigious and non-technical. In all instances the parties shall appear and represent themselves, and lawyers are not encouraged to attend or participate, except where the lawyer is the requesting party or the employer, or their duly authorised representative.

An agent or attorney-in-fact with an SPA, board resolution or secretary’s certificate may appear where a party has relocated to another region or is already outside the country, is a minor or physically incapacitated, or has died during the pendency of the request.

Conferences may be face-to-face or on digital platforms, provided the platform is available to all parties.

Confidentiality, and the recording ban

Information and statements exchanged during the proceedings are confidential and privileged, and cannot be used as evidence in any arbitration proceeding unless confidentiality is waived.

The parties are not allowed to use voice or video recorders or any electronic recording device. A device used in violation is surrendered to the SEADO, without prejudice to further legal action.

The single exception is procedural: on platforms that record, only the reading of the settlement agreement and the parties’ concurrence to it may be recorded, and that recording serves as proof of acceptance.

The settlement agreement

It must be in writing, in a language or dialect clearly understood by the parties, signed by both and attested by the SEADO, who must ensure the terms are fair, reasonable, and not contrary to law, public morals or public policy.

It must contain all validated issues and how each was addressed; the terms and consideration, and where money is involved the schedule of payment, whether in full at one time or in tranches, with amounts and due dates; a waiver of claims related to the issues raised, where applicable; and a declaration that the settlement was arrived at voluntarily and without fraud, intimidation, violence or coercion.

A settlement attested by the SEADO is final and immediately executory, and binds all DOLE offices and attached agencies.

Parties who reach an agreement on their own may bring it in as a walk-in settlement. The SEADO convenes a conference, the parties appear personally to attest to its authenticity and due execution, and once confirmed it has the same effect as one reached through conciliation-mediation.

A simulated settlement, one whose terms look valid but which the parties never intended to comply with, has no binding effect even after attestation.

When it does not work

Where a settlement is not complied with, the SEADO first calls a conference to exhaust voluntary compliance. If that fails, the requesting party may file a motion for execution with the DOLE Regional Office or the NLRC Regional Arbitration Branch.

Compliance reporting is on the responding party where the settlement involves payment in tranches, reinstatement, lifting of a suspension, or any other positive action sought. The waiver and quitclaim is issued only on full compliance, which is the protection worth insisting on.

Which issuance is current

Worth stating plainly, because the older number is still widely quoted: the implementing rules were DO 151, Series of 2016, and are now DO 249, Series of 2025, which supersedes inconsistent issuances and takes effect 15 days after publication. RA 10396 itself took effect 15 days after complete publication, having been passed by both chambers on 28 January 2013.

Oversight sits with the National Tripartite Industrial Peace Council, created under Executive Order No. 49, series of 1998 and institutionalised under RA 10395.

What this page does not cover

The Rules do not publish the RFA form itself, a documentary checklist, an office directory, or any fee, so none appears here. This page also does not cover the NCMB Manual of Procedures for Conciliation and Mediation, which applies suppletorily, nor the separate voluntary arbitration track that unresolved issues may be referred into by agreement.

Related

The final pay guide covers the money most SEnA requests are about, the certificate of employment guide covers the document employers must issue on request, and the minimum wage guide carries the regional rates an underpayment claim is measured against.

The OSH compliance guide covers the safety standards whose imminent-danger cases are excluded from SEnA conciliation.

• All DOLE guides
• Calculators
• How figures on this site are sourced