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LABOR UPDATE 2016 WITH LEGAL BEST

PRACTICES ON LABOR REMEDIES
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9:00 am to 5:00 pm, Thursday, January 12, 2017
EDSA Shangri-La Hotel, Mandaluyong City, Philippines

COURSE OUTLINE

I. SUPREME COURT DECISIONS ON LABOR CASES

a. Highlights of the 2016 Decisions

i. Procedural requirements for valid strike (HSBC Employees Union

vs. NLRC, G.R. No. 156635, January 11, 2016)
ii. Procedural due process in employee dismissal; Two written notices
(Balais vs. Se’lon by Aimee, G.R. No. 196557, June 15, 2016)
iii. Prerogative to transfer employees (Echo 2000 Commercial
Corporation vs. ILIPINO-ECHO 2000 CHAPTER-CLO, G.R. No.
214092, January 11, 2016)
iv. No automatic award of moral and exemplary damages in labor
cases
v. Liabilities of corporate officers in illegal dismissal (Echo 2000
Commercial Corporation vs. ILIPINO-ECHO 2000 CHAPTER-CLO,
G.R. No. 214092, January 11, 2016)
vi. Separation pay in lieu of reinstatement
vii. Interest on monetary award
viii. Burden to prove involuntariness in resignation (Iladan vs. La Suerte
Manpower Agency, Inc, G.R. No. 203882, January 11, 2016)
ix. Presumption of regularity of official acts on release, waiver, and
authentication
x. Doubt in the evidence of parties in labor cases (Lagahit vs. Pacific
Concord Container Lines, G.R. No. 177680, January 13, 2016;
Cocoplans, Inc. vs. Villapando, G.R. No. 183129, May 30, 2016)
xi. Loss of trust and confidence; determination of managerial
employee for breach of trust
xii. Burden of proof in illegal dismissal; Dismissed employee need not
prove his innocence
xiii. Binding effect of finding of Med-Arbiter of ER-EE relationship on
Labor Arbiter (Hijo Resources Corporation vs. Mejares, G.R. No.
208986, January 13, 2016)
xiv. Presumption of job contractor as labor-only contractor (Diamond
Farms vs. FARMS AGRARIAN REFORM BENEFICIARIES MULTI-
PURPOSE COOPERATIVE (DARBMUPCO), G.R. Nos. 173254-
55 & 173263, January 13, 2016; Manila Memorial Park Cemetery,
Inc. vs. Lluz, G.R. No. 208451, February 3, 2016)
 xv. Labor and employment matters cannot be subjected to agreement
(Olimpia Housing, Inc. vs. Lapastora, G.R. No. 187691, January 13,
2016)
xvi. Impossibility of reinstatement due to closure of business (Olimpia
Housing, Inc. vs. Lapastora, G.R. No. 187691, January 13, 2016)
xvii. Computation of separation pay and backwages when company
already closed
xviii. Liability to pay indemnity for giving only 48 hours to submit reply
(Quiro-Quiro vs. Balagtas Credit Cooperative & Community
Development, Inc., G.R. No. 209921, January 13, 2016)
xix. Aspects of employee dismissal (NDC Tagum Foundation, Inc. vs.
Sumakote, G.R. No. 190644, June 13, 2016)
xx. Legal interest on nominal damages
xxi. Requisites that must concur in dismissal due to serious misconduct;
Act of defiance that also breeds antagonism (Cebu People’s Multi-
purpose Cooperative vs. Carbonilla, Jr., G.R. No. 212070, January
27, 2016)
xxii. Totality of infractions principle
xxiii. Offsetting of accountabilities against unpaid salaries and 13th month
pay (Cebu People’s Multi-purpose Cooperative vs. Carbonilla, Jr.,
G.R. No. 212070, January 27, 2016)
xxiv. Independent contracts; fixed-term employment (Samonte vs. La
Salle Greenhills, Inc., G.R. No. 199683, February 10, 2016)
xxv. Effect of repeated renewals of fixed-term contract
xxvi. Separation pay as a measure of social justice (Security Bank
Savings Corporation (Formerly Premiere Development Bank) vs.
Singson, G.R. No. 214230, February 10, 2016)
1. Revisit of PLDT Doctrine
2. Toyota Doctrine
xxvii. Gross and habitual neglect of duty (Sugar Steel Industrial, Inc. vs.
Albina, G.R. No. 168749, June 6, 2016)
xxviii. Immorality as ground for dismissal (Capin-Cadiz vs. Brent Hospital
and Colleges, Inc., G.R. 187417, February 24, 2016)
xxix. Marriage and Bonfide Occupational Qualification – BFOQ
xxx. Dispute involving individual who is both employee, and stockholder
and director (Guillermo vs. Uson, G.R. No. 198967, March 7, 2016)
xxxi. Fixed Period employment does not by itself signify circumvention of
Article 280 (Jamias vs. NLRC, G.R. No. 159350, March 9, 2016)
xxxii. Necessity and desirability of the work are not determinant in term
employment
xxxiii. Choice to discipline is a management prerogative (Tabuk
Multipurpose Cooperative, Inc. (TAMPCO) vs. Duclan, G.R. No.
203005, March 14, 2016)
xxxiv. Reinstatement without backwages (Universal Robina Sugar Milling
Corporation vs. Ablay, G.R. No. 218172, March 16, 2016)
xxxv. Transfer that amounted to constructive dismissal (Divine World
College of Laoag vs. Mina, G.R. No. 195155, April 13, 2016)
xxxvi. Constructive dismissal through preventive suspension (Agcolicol,
Jr. vs. Casiño, G.R. No. 217732, June 15, 2016)
xxxvii. Elements of retrenchment (PAL vs. Ligan, G.R. No.203932, June 8,
2016)
 xxxviii. Directive to explain and dismissal in single notice warrants payment
of indemnity to employees
xxxix. Bond is valid despite the fact that the surety company's authority to
transact business as a bonding company refers only to civil cases
and does not include labor cases. (PHILIPPINE SAVINGS BANK,
Petitioner, vs. MANUEL P. BARRERA
xl. G.R. No. 197393, June 15, 2016)
xli. Employee liability for unauthorized disclosure of password; Liability
for issuance of fraudulent bank certifications
xlii. Determination of ER-EE relationship in the exercise of visitorial
power (SOUTH COTABATO COMMUNICATIONS
CORPORATION AND GAUVAIN J. BENZONAN, Petitioners, v.
HON. PATRICIA STO. TOMAS, G.R. No. 217575, June 15, 2016)
1. Bombo Radyo decision
xliii. Legal standing of employees to demand declaration for
regularization of employees of contractor (Cagayan Electric Power
& Light Company, Inc. (CELPALCO), et al. Vs. CEPALCO
Employee's Labor Union-Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union
Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) G.R. No. 211015/G.R. No.
213835. June 20, 2016)
xliv. Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) in relation to Labor-Only Contracting
(LOC)
xlv. Definition and concept of immorality (Zaida R. Inocente Vs. St.
Vincent Foundation for Children and Aging, Inc./Veronica Manguito
(G.R. No. 202621. June 22, 2016)
xlvi. To discourage vs. to prohibit in company policy
xlvii. Specification of acts allegedly committed
xlviii. Reduction of workweek as basis of claim for constructive dismissal
(Intec Cebu Inc., et al. Vs. Hon. Court of Appeals, et al.,
G.R. No. 189951. June 22, 2016)
xlix. Violation of duty to bargain is ULP (Ren Transport Corp. vs.
National Labor Relations Commission, G.R. No. 188020/G.R. No.
188252. June 27, 2016)
l. Employer’s right to impose productivity standards (Quintanar, et al.
Vs. Coca-Cola Bottlers, Philippines, Inc.)
li. Effect when ground in notice of dismissal is different from the notice
to explain
lii. When employment status in appointment letter is ambiguous
(Philippine National Oil Company-Energy Development
Corporation vs. Buenviaje, G.R. Nos. 183200-01/G.R. Nos. 183253
& 183257. June 29, 2016)
liii. Who are field personnel (Hilario Dasco, et al. Vs. Philtranco Service
Enterprises Inc., G.R. No. 211141. June 29, 2016)
liv. Validity of contract provision forfeiting commission (Century
Properties, Inc. Vs. Edwin J. Babiano and Emma B. Concepcion,
G.R. No. 220978. July 5, 2016)

b. Review of important 2015 Decisions

i. Illegal dismissal in relation to strike

 ii. Bond requirement; McBurnie ruling; Provisional Bond; Judicial
courtesy precept; Compromise agreement; Appeal is not a natural
right
iii. Two classes of positions of trust; “fiduciary rank and file
employees”; confidential employees hold positions of trust and
confidence; disqualification from union of confidential employees
due to potential conflict of interests; Article 248 (a) covers only
interference with the right to self-organization of bona fide members
of the bargaining unit; payment of wages of dismissed employees
during the period of appeal until reversal (Garcia vs. PAL)
iv. Employer-employee relationship; Control; Relationship cannot be
negated by expressly repudiating in a contract; Truck driver as
independent contractor; Fixed-term employment (employee should
be in a position to make demands on account of special skills or
market forces/needs less protection); Serious misconduct;
Dismissal not commensurate penalty; Release, waiver and
quitclaim; receipt of separation pay not bar to contest legality of
dismissal;
v. Burden of proof in illegal dismissal cases; Relief from assignment
due to work rotation policy; Rotation policy is a management
prerogative
vi. Dismissal due to pregnancy out of wedlock; immorality; secular vs.
religious morality
vii. Project employment in BPO company
viii. Application of Labor Arbiter’s jurisdiction to employer’s claim;
Clearance as basis to withhold wages; Meaning of Accountability;
Labor Arbiter’s preliminary determination of property rights in
relation to labor dispute
ix. Absence of claims for retirement pay is not included in the award of
“other benefits”
x. Redundancy; Requisites - criteria; Failure to notify DOLE renders
dismissal illegal;
xi. Self-serving email cannot prove validity of dismissal
xii. Regular seasonal employees; One year service rule applies only to
casual employment; involuntary retirement is treated as discharge;
interpretation of “fraction of at least 6 months”
xiii. Contractual provisions allowing termination with or without cause is
invalid; Mere four (4) weeks written notice agreed upon will not
justify dismissal
xiv. Illegal demotion; payment of salary differential in illegal demotion
xv. Labor-only contracting (LOC); Presumption as LOC; Permissible
contracting; name of principal appearing in the payslips
xvi. Waiver of rights; “General waiver;
xvii. Project employment; report of termination as indicator of project
employment; repeated and successive rehiring of project
employees does not qualify them as regular employees; length of
service through rehiring
xviii. Effect of offer to resign vs. administrative investigation; resignation

II. RELEVANT CHANGES IN THE LABOR CODE

 a. Renumbering of the Labor Code of the Philippines, as Amended
i. Repeal of Article 130 on Nightwork Prohibitions
ii. Repeal of Article 131
iii. Insertion: Chapter V – Employment of Night Workers
1. Coverage
2. Health Assessment
3. Mandatory Facilities
4. Transfer
5. Women Night Workers
6. Compensation
7. Social Services
8. Nightwork Schedules
iv. Changes effected by RA 10396 on Article 228
v. Changes effected by RA 10395 on Article 275

III. SELECTED 2016 ISSUANCES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND

EMPLOYMENT (DOLE)

a. Payment of Wages for Special (Non-Working) Days (Labor Advisory No.

01-2016)
b. Payment of Wages for the Regular Holiday
c. Salient points of Department Order No. 150-16 Revised Guidelines
Governing the Employment and Working Conditions of Security Guards
and other Private Security Personnel in the Private Security Industry
d. Salient points of Department Order No. 151-16 Implementing Rules and
Regulations of RA No. 10396, or "An Act Strengthening Conciliation-
Mediation as a Voluntary Mode of Dispute Settlement for All Labor Case
e. Highlights of Department Order No. 147-15 Amending the Implementing
Rules and Regulations of Book VI of the Labor Code of the Philippines, as
Amended
f. Important provisions of Department Order No. 131-B-16 Revised Rules on
Labor Laws Compliance System
g. Implications of Department Order No. 162-2016 Suspending Registration
of New Applicants as Contractors or Subcontractors under DO No. 18-A
h. Labor Advisory No. 10-2016 Prohibition against Labor-Only Contracting

IV. Wage Order No. NCR-20

V. REMEDIES

Center for Global Best Practices

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