DOLE is an Executive Branch entity

The Labor Standards law and the Labor Relations law do not apply to partnership, co-ownership or independent contractorship. In view of that, a person cannot pursue a claim before the Department of Labor or its offices or agencies such as the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) if the basis of complaint is not employment.

The DOLE serves as the policy-making, programming, coordinating, and administrative entity of the Executive Branch of the government in the field of labor and employment. It has exclusive authority in the administration and enforcement of labor and employment laws and such other laws. The complainant of a labor dispute therefore cannot go directly to the court regardless of whether or not the disputant stands in the proximate employer-employee relation, unless he has exhausted all available administrative remedies pursuant to the Principle of Exhaustion.