Guerzon v.

Pasig
September 12, 2008 | Corona, J.
By: Arrow

FACTS:
Petitioners Guerzon, Cruz and Bauyon were employees of
respondent Pasig Industries in its Makati office. Respondent Fujita
informed petitioners that the parent company of Pasig decided to
close the Makati office for transfer to the Bataan office. They were
given the option to resign subject to a special separation package
equivalent to one month salary for every year of service.
Petitioners asked for a recomputation which would include the
allowances into the computation of the separation pay. Respondent
acceded to this request.
Despite voluntarily availing of the SSP, petitioners filed a complaint
for illegal dismissal and payment of separation pay, retirement
benefits, leave pay and 13th month pay against PII, its president
Masahiro Fukada and Fujita in the NLRC.
LA: respondent co. Guilty of illegal dismissal
NLRC: reversed LA. petitioners voluntarily accepted the terms of
the SSP offered by PII. It noted that they negotiated to improve PIIs
offered SSP.

CA: dismissed petition

Petitioners claim that company failed to prove it was incurring
losses, thus they were dismissed without a just or authorized
cause.
ISSUES/HELD:
WON respondent company failed to prove that PII had been
incurring losses to justify its reorganization .
ratio

Immaterial, see

RATIO:
Petitioners held responsible positions in PII. Employees of their
educational backgrounds and professional standing do not easily
relinquish their legal rights unless they intend to. In fact, petitioners
even bargained to improve the terms of the SSP and, after
successfully doing so, voluntarily resigned from PII.
Consequently, whether the streamlining of PIIs operations
constituted an authorized cause for petitioners termination became
immaterial in view of their voluntary resignation.