THIRD DIVISION
G.R. No. 197852, October 19, 2015
PASIG AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT AND INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY CORPORATION AND CELESTINO E. DAMIAN, Petitioners, v. WILSON NIEVAREZ, ALBERTO HALINA, GLORY VIC NUEVO, RICKY TORRES AND CORNELIO BALLE, Respondent.
D E C I S I O N
PERALTA, J.:
For this Court's resolution is a petition for review on certiorari dated August 10, 2011 of petitioners Pasig Agricultural Development and Industrial Supply Corporation (PADISCOR) and Celestino E. Damian assailing the Decision1 dated January 25, 2011 and Resolution2 dated July 21, 2011 of the Court of Appeals (CA), which affirmed with modification the Resolutions dated August 24, 2007 and October 31, 2007 of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) and declared that the temporary suspension of respondents Wilson Nievarez, Alberto Halina, Glory Vic Nuevo, Ricky Torres and Cornelio Balle as illegal.
The antecedents follow:chanRoblesvirtualLawlibrary
Petitioner Pasig Agricultural Development and Industrial Supply Corporation (PADISCOR) is a domestic corporation organized and existing under the Philippine laws. Petitioner Celestino E. Damian is the general manager of PADISCOR.3
Respondents Wilson Nievarez, Alberto Halina, Glory Vic Nuevo, Ricky Torres and Cornelio Balle are regular employees of PADISCOR. They were hired as machinist, tool keeper/timer, helper, welder, and maintenance worker with a daily wage of P350.00.4
On June 17, 2006, PADISCOR, through its administrative officer, sent notices to Nievarez, Torres and Nuevo informing them that they were temporarily laid off from employment for a period of six (6) months from July 30, 2006 to January 30, 2007. It cited that it can no longer pay their wages and other benefits due to financial losses and lack of capital. It also mentioned other factors which further burdened its efforts, such as undesirable personnel misconduct like unauthorized absences, habitual tardiness, negligence, dishonesty and others.5
In a Memorandum dated June 24, 2006, PADISCOR required Nievarez to submit a written explanation why a disciplinary action should not be imposed against him for his unjustified refusal to perform assigned tasks.6 The following day, June 25, 2006, Nievarez submitted his explanation expounding on his need to receive a memorandum before he be assigned to a task as protection from unfounded accusations, and demanded an additional wage.7
PADISCOR dismissed the explanations and demands of Nievarez for being ridiculous and baseless. PADISCOR denied that Nievarez was transferred to another place of work or was demoted to a lesser job category. It also rejected his presumption that he was promoted. Hence, it suspended Nievarez from work for fifteen (15) days for insubordination.
On September 5, 2006, Balle and Halina received notices similar from the other respondents informing them of their temporary lay-off from employment from October 7, 2006 to April 6, 2007.8
Consequently, respondents filed complaints for illegal suspension, illegal lay-off, non-payment of service incentive leave and paternity leave, damages and attorney's fees against PADISCOR and Damian.9
For their part, respondents claimed that as regular employees of PADISCOR, they are entitled to security of tenure and cannot be laid off without just cause.10 They also averred that the temporary lay-off by PADISCOR is equivalent to illegal dismissal.11 Respondents alleged that their service incentive leave pay were not paid, while Nievarez and Nuevo further claimed that their paternity benefits were also not paid. They alleged that assuming that PADISCOR was suffering financial losses, they were still entitled to separation pay.12
Petitioners, in their position paper, asserted that the suspension of Nievarez was valid since he was guilty of insubordination and misconduct which was a repetition of a previous offense.13 They further alleged that Nievarez made ridiculous conditions such as written memorandum defining his duties, and a promotion or a raise in wage before he completes his assigned task.14
PADISCOR maintained that the six (6) months temporary lay-off of respondents was valid due to economic reasons.15 It also alleged that it gave one-month prior notice to respondents regarding the temporary retrenchment and filed Establishment Termination Reports16 on June 20, 2006 and September 5, 2006 with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). It averred that there was no dismissal since the lay-off was merely temporary, thus, respondents are not entitled to separation pay.17
PADISCOR alleged that the claim for paternity benefit by Nievarez and Nuevo has already prescribed since the youngest son of Nievarez was born in 1993 while Nuevo's youngest child was born in 2001. There was no record that they claimed or filed for the said benefit.18
In the Decision19 dated November 30, 2006, the Labor Arbiter (LA) dismissed the complaint for illegal lay-off and illegal suspension for lack of merit but awarded the payment of service incentive leave in favor of respondents. The dispositive portion of the decision reads:
WHEREFORE, judgment is hereby rendered ordering [petitioners] to pay [respondents]'s service incentive leave for the last three (3) years in the following amounts:chanRoblesvirtualLawlibraryThe LA held that the power to instill discipline in the workplace is part of petitioner PADISCOR's management prerogative.21 The LA also held that respondents were merely temporarily laid-off for a period of six (6) months and that such was valid since the corresponding notices to the respondents and to the DOLE were duly complied with by the petitioners.22 The money claims of respondents were denied but they were awarded payment of service incentive leaves for the years 2003 to 2005,23
NAME SERVICE INCENTIVE LEAVE PAY 2003 TO 2005 1. WILSON N1EVAREZ P3,875.00 2. JOSEPH NUEVO P3,875.00 3. GLORY VIC NUEVO P3,875.00 4. RICKY TORRES P3,875.00 5. CORNELIO BALLE P3,875.00 6. ALBERTO HALINA P3,875.00
The complaint for illegal lay-off, illegal suspension, and other monetary claims are hereby DISMISSED for lack of merit.
SO ORDERED.20ChanRoblesVirtualawlibrary
ACCORDINGLY, premises considered, the decision appealed from is AFFIRMED and the instant partial appeal DISMISSED for lack of merit.The NLRC rejected the respondents' allegations that they were preselected among employees because of union formation due to absence of substantial evidence to support such claim.26 The NLRC held that the law has imposed a limitation of six (6) months to temporary layoff such that exceeding that period will be treated as constructive dismissal.27 Thus, absent any evidence to the contrary, the NLRC agreed with the findings of the LA that the temporary lay-off of respondents was valid.
SO ORDERED.25ChanRoblesVirtualawlibrary
WHEREFORE, the petition is partly Granted. The assailed Resolutions, dated August 24, 2007 and October 31, 2007 of the Public Respondent National Labor Relations Commission, in NLRC CA No. 051705-07 are Affirmed with Modification in that [Respondents'] temporary suspension from services are declared illegal.The CA held that petitioners failed to prove its claim of financial losses through convincing evidence like financial statements. Thus, the said temporary lay-off of respondents was declared as illegal.30
This case is remanded to the Labor Arbiter [a] quo for the computation of [Respondents'] backwages due to said temporary lay-off of service.
SO ORDERED.29ChanRoblesVirtualawlibrary
IT IS RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED THAT THE HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS ERRED IN ISSUING THE DECISION DATED 25 JANUARY 2011 AND THE RESOLUTION DATED 21 JULY 2011, IN HOLDING THAT PETITIONERS' EXERCISE OF ITS MANAGEMENT PREROGATIVE TO TEMPORARILY LAY-OFF EMPLOYEES IS ILLEGAL IN VIEW OF ITS FAILURE TO PRESENT FINANCIAL STATEMENTS TO EVIDENCE ITS FINANCIAL LOSSES. CONTRARY TO PREVAILING JURISPRUDENCE THAT PRESENTATION OF FINANCIAL STATEMENTS IS NOT A REQUISITE FOR A VALID TEMPORARY LAY-OFF.31ChanRoblesVirtualawlibraryThis Court finds the present petition without merit.
Closure or cessation of operations for economic reasons is, therefore, recognized as a valid exercise of management prerogative. The determination to cease operations is a prerogative of management which the State does not usually interfere with, as no business or undertaking must be required to continue operating at a loss simply because it has to maintain its workers in employment. Such an act would be tantamount to a taking of property without due process of law.36ChanRoblesVirtualawlibraryThere is no specific provision of law which treats of a temporary retrenchment or lay-off and provides for the requisites in effecting it or a period or duration therefor. These employees cannot forever be temporarily laid-off. To remedy this situation or fill the hiatus, Article 286 (now Article 301) of the Labor Code may be applied but only by analogy to set a specific period that employees may remain temporarily laid-off or in floating status.37
Endnotes:
1 Penned by Associate Justice Noel G. Tijam, with Associate Justices Marlene Gonzales-Sison and Danton Q. Bueser, concurring; rollo pp. 30-39.
2Id. at 26-28.
3Id. at 7.
4Id. at 31.
5Id. at 61-63.
6 CA Decision p. 2, id. at 31.
7Rollo, p. 69.
8Id. at 66-67.
9Id. at 31.
10Id. at 73.
11Id.
12Id.
13Id. at 73-74.
14Id. at 74.
15Id.
16Id. at 64-65.
17Supra note 14.
18Id.
19 Penned by Labor Arbiter Pablo C. Espiritu, Jr.; id. at 71-78.
20Id. at 78.
21Id. at 75.
22Id. at 76-77.
23Id. at 77.
24 Penned by Commissioner Tito F. Genilo, with Commissioners Lourdes C. Javier and Gregorio O. Bilog, III, concurring; id. at 94-99.
25Rollo, p. 99.
26Id. at 97.
27Id. at 98.
28Id. at 102-103.
29Id. at 38-39.
30Id. at 38. (Emphasis omitted).
31Id. at 12.
32 Art. 286. When employment not deemed terminated. The bona-fide suspension of the operation of a business or undertaking for a period not exceeding six (6) months, or the fulfillment by the employee of a military or civic duty shall not terminate employment. In all such cases, the employer shall reinstate the employee to his former position without loss of seniority rights if he indicates his desire to resume his work not later than one (1) month from the resumption of operations of his employer or from his relief from the military or civic duty.
33 Art. 283. Closure of establishment and reduction of personnel. The employer may also terminate the employment of any employee due to the installation of labor-saving devices, redundancy, retrenchment to prevent losses or the closing or cessation of operation of the establishment or undertaking unless the closing is for the purpose of circumventing the provisions of this Title, by serving a written notice on the workers and the Ministry of Labor and Employment at least one (1) month before the intended date thereof. In case of termination due to the installation of labor-saving devices or redundancy, the worker affected thereby shall be entitled to a separation pay equivalent to at least his one (1) month pay or to at least one (1) month pay for every year of service, whichever is higher. In case of retrenchment to prevent losses and in cases of closures or cessation of operations of establishment or undertaking not due to serious business losses or financial reverses, the separation pay shall be equivalent to one (1) month pay or at least one-half (1/2) month pay for every year of service, whichever is higher. A fraction of at least six (6) months shall be considered one (1) whole year.
34Lopez v. Irvine Construction Corp., G.R. No. 207253, August 20, 2014, 733 SCRA 589, 600.
35 339 Phil. 395 (1997).
36Id. at 404-405.
37PT & T Corp. v. NLRC, 496 Phil. 164 (2005).
38Id. at 177.
39Supra note 5; supra note 8.
40Supra note 16.
41Manila Mining Corporation v. Amor, et al., G.R. No. 182800, April 20, 2015.
42Lopez v. Irvine Construction. Corp., et al, supra note 34 at 602.
43Id.
44Id. at 603.
45Id. at 605.
46Id.
47 639 Phil. 1 (2010).
48Id. at 12.
49Exocet Security and Allied Services Corporation, v. Serrano, G.R. No. 198538, September 29, 2014, 737 SCRA 40, 50.
50 Art. 279. Security of tenure. In cases of regular employment, the employer shall not terminate the services of an employee except for a just cause or when authorized by this Title. An employee who is unjustly dismissed from work shall be entitled to reinstatement without loss of seniority rights and other privileges and to his full backwages, inclusive of allowances, and to his other benefits or their monetary equivalent computed from the time his compensation was withheld from him up to the time of his actual reinstatement.