MAULA vs. XIMEX

LEO T. MAULA vs XIMEX DELIVERY EXPRESS, INC.

G.R. No. 207838

January 25, 2017

FACTS

On May 12, 2009, petitioner Leo Maula filed a complaint against respondent Ximex Delivery Express, Inc. (Ximex) and its officers, for illegal dismissal, among others.

Petitioner is employed in Ximex as an operation staff. Petitioner’s employment was uneventful until came February 18, 2009, when respondent’s HRD required him and other co-employees to sign a form subtitled Personal Data for New Hires. When he inquired about it, he was told that it was nothing and that it was only for the twenty-peso increase which the accompany owner allegedly wanted to see. 

On February 29, 2009, he, together with some other concerned employees, requested for a meeting with their manager together with the HRD manager. They questioned the document and aired their apprehensions against the designation, “For New Hires”, since they were long time regular employees earning monthly salary wages not daily wages, as against what was in the form. The company’s manager (Amador Cabrera) retorted: “Ay wala yan walang kwenta yan”. When he disclosed that he consulted a lawyer, respondent Cabrera insisted it was nothing and accordingly no lawyer could say that it really matters. Cabrera even dared the petitioner to present the lawyer. The meeting was concluded. When Maula was about to exit the conference room, he was addressed with the parting words of, “kung gusto mo mag labor ka”. He did not react.

                
On March 4, 2009, the petitioner filed a complaint before the National Conciliation and Mediation Board. During the hearing, it was agreed upon that shall be no retaliatory action between petitioner and company arising from the complaint.

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    Consequently, events happened in the workplace which, to the petitioner, were frame-ups and malicious accusations of things he was not guilty of. A total of three memorandums was served to him. The first being that a supposed problem which cropped up when he was accused responsible of an erroneous label in the cargo which led to its rerouting the third being the dismissal order. The second was when he was reassigned, without clear explanation, to another department and was tasked to train the one taking over his prior assignment. He was accused of not attending to his new assignment. His apprehensions were thus confirmed.

     On April 8, 2009, he filed a new complaint with the NCMB. Hearings were scheduled but the

respondents never appeared. On May 4, 2009, he reported to the office only to be denied entry. Instead a dismissal letter was handed to him.

The case was brought to the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) for arbitration. Efforts were exerted by the Labor Arbiter (LA) to encourage the parties to amicably settle but without success.

The LA ruled for the petitioner

On appeal, the NLRC affirmed in toto the LA’s decision.

Respondents elevated the case to the CA, which reversed and set aside the decision of the NLRC.

Hence the petition for review on certiorari.

ISSUE

Whether or not the petitioner committed serious misconduct justifying his dismissal.

HELD

The petition is meritorious.

The CA erred when it made its own factual determination of the matters involved, and, on that basis, reversed the NLRC ruling that affirmed the findings of the LA. 

The exercise of disciplining and imposing appropriate penalties on erring employees must be practiced in good faith and for the advancement of the employer’s interest and not for the purpose of defeating or circumventing the rights of the employees under special laws or under valid agreements.

The unsubstantiated suspicions, accusations, and conclusions of the employer do not provide legal justification for dismissing the employee. When in doubt, the case should be resolved in favour of labor pursuant to the social justice policy of our Labor laws and the 1987 Constitution.

Respondents manifestly failed to prove that petitioner’s alleged act constitutes serious misconduct. For misconduct or improper behaviour to be a just cause for dismissal, (a) it must be serious; (b) it must relate to the performance of the employee’s duties; and, (c) it must show that the employee has become unfit to continue working for the employer.

The admittedly insulting and unbecoming language uttered by petitioner to the HR Manager should be viewed with reasonable leniency in light of the fact that it was committed under an emotionally charged state. We agree with the LA and NLRC that the on-the-spur-of-the-moment outburst of petitioner, he having reached his breaking point, was due to what he perceived as successive retaliatory and orchestrated actions of respondent. Indeed, there was only lapse in judgment rather than a premeditated defiance of authority.

Furthermore, respondent cannot invoke the principle of totality of infractions considering that petitioner’s alleged previous acts of misconduct were not established in accordance with the requirements of procedural due process.

The court finds the penalty of dismissal too harsh. Petitioner’s termination for employment is also inappropriate considering that he had been with respondent company for seven years and he had no previous derogatory record.

Petitioner’s preventive suspension of 30 days was also inappropriate.

Wherefore, the petition is granted. The CA’s decision is reversed and set aside. The LA is directed to re-compute the proper amount of back wages and separation pay due to petitioner in accordance with this decision.

JLD