Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
- versus -
Promulgated:
May 14, 2008
x---------------------------------------------------------------------------x
DECISION
TINGA, J.:
This
treats
of
the
Petition
for
Review [1] of
the
Resolution[2] and
respondent
is
the
labor
union
of
petitioners
rank
and
file
Sickness
27 August 2003 to 27 February 2004
Suspension 10 June 2003 to 1 July 2003
Sickness
August 2003 to February 2004
in
full
to
its
employees,
thereby
rejecting
the
claim
seven
employees. The appellate court noted that aside from the affidavit of petitioners
officer, it has not presented any evidence in support of its position that it has no
voluntary practice of granting the contested benefits in full and without regard to
the service actually rendered within the year. It also questioned why it took
petitioner eleven (11) years before it was able to discover the alleged error. The
dispositive portion of the courts decision reads:
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the instant petition is
hereby GRANTED and the Decision of Accredited Voluntary Arbiter
Apron M. Mangabat in NCMB-NCR Case No. PM-12-345-03, dated June
18, 2004 is hereby AFFIRMED WITH MODIFICATION in that the
13th month pay, bonus, vacation leave and sick leave conversions to
cash shall be paid to the employees in full, irrespective of the actual
service rendered within a year. [7]
Petitioner moved for the reconsideration of the decision but its motion was
denied, hence this petition.
Petitioner submits that the Court of Appeals erred when it ruled that
the grant of 13th month pay, bonus, and leave encashment in full regardless of
actual service rendered constitutes voluntary employer practice and, consequently,
the prorated payment of the said benefits does not constitute diminution of benefits
under Article 100 of the Labor Code.[8]
leaves
will
be
paid
The rule, however, admits of several exceptions, one of which is when the
findings of the Court of Appeals are contrary to that of the lower tribunals. Such is
the case here, as the factual conclusions of the Court of Appeals difer from that of
the voluntary arbitrator.
Petitioner granted, in several instances, full benefits to employees who have
not served a full year, thus:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Name
Percival Bernas
Cezar Montero
Wilson Sayod
Nomer Becina
Ronnie Licuan
Guilbert Villaruel
Melandro Moque
Reason
Sickness
Sickness
Sickness
Suspension
Sickness
Sickness
Sickness
Duration
July 1992 to November 1992
21 Dec. 1992 to February 1993
May 1994 to July 1994
1 Sept. 1996 to 5 Oct. 1996
8 Nov. 1999 to 9 Dec. 1999
23 Aug. 2002 to 4 Feb. 2003
29 Aug. 2003 to 30 Sept. 2003[11]
Petitioner claims that its full payment of benefits regardless of the length of
service to the company does not constitute voluntary employer practice. It points
out that the payments had been erroneously made and they occurred in isolated
cases in the years 1992, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2002 and 2003. According to petitioner,
it was only in 2003 that the accounting department discovered the error when
there were already three (3) employees involved with prolonged absences and the
error was corrected by implementing the pro-rata payment of benefits pursuant to
law and their existing CBA.[12] It adds that the seven earlier cases of full payment of
benefits went unnoticed considering the proportion of one employee
concerned (per year) vis vis the 170 employees of the company. Petitioner
describes the situation as a clear oversight which should not be taken against it.
[13]
To further bolster its case, petitioner argues that for a grant of a benefit to be
considered a practice, it should have been practiced over a long period of time and
must be shown to be consistent, deliberate and intentional, which is not what
happened in this case. Petitioner tries to make a case out of the fact that the CBA
has not been modified to incorporate the giving of full benefits regardless of the
length of service, proof that the grant has not ripened into company practice.
We disagree.
of
workers
protection.
[16]
and
promote
their
aford
labor
full
Said mandate in turn is the basis of Article 4 of the Labor Code which
states that all doubts in the implementation and interpretation of this Code,
including its implementing rules and regulations shall be rendered in favor of labor.
Jurisprudence is replete with cases which recognize the right of employees to
benefits which were voluntarily given by the employer and which ripened into
company practice. Thus in Davao Fruits Corporation v. Associated Labor Unions, et
al.[17] where an employer had freely and continuously included in the computation of
the 13th month pay those items that were expressly excluded by the law, we held
that the act which was favorable to the employees though not conforming to law
had thus ripened into a practice and could not be withdrawn, reduced, diminished,
discontinued or eliminated. In Sevilla Trading Company v. Semana,[18]we ruled that
the employers act of including non-basic benefits in the computation of the
13th month pay was a voluntary act and had ripened into a company practice which
cannot
be
peremptorily
withdrawn. Meanwhile
[19]
in Davao Integrated
Port
equivalent of the unenjoyed sick leave benefits to its intermittent workers after
finding that said workers had received these benefits for almost four years until the
grant was stopped due to a diferent interpretation of the CBA provisions. We held
that
the
employer cannot
commutation or conversion to cash given to said workers, and as also noted that
the employer had in fact granted and paid said cash equivalent of the unenjoyed
portion of the sick leave benefits to some intermittent workers.
In the years 1992, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2002 and 2003, petitioner had adopted
a policy of freely, voluntarily and consistently granting full benefits to its employees
regardless of the length of service rendered. True, there were only a total of seven
employees who benefited from such a practice, but it was an established practice
nonetheless. Jurisprudence has not laid down any rule specifying a minimum
number of years within which a company practice must be exercised in order to
constitute voluntary company practice.[20] Thus, it can be six (6) years,[21] three (3)
years,[22] or even as short as two (2) years. [23] Petitioner cannot shirk away from its
Indeed, if petitioner wants to prove that it merely erred in giving full benefits, it
could have easily presented other proofs, such as the names of other employees
who
did
not
fully
serve
for
one
year
and
thus
were
given
prorated
DANTE
TINGA
O.
Associate Justice
WE CONCUR:
LEONARDO A. QUISUMBING
Associate Justice
Chairperson
ARTURO D. BRION
Associate Justice
ATTESTATION
I attest that the conclusions in the above Decision had been reached in
consultation before the case was assigned to the writer of the opinion of the Courts
Division.
LEONARDO A. QUISUMBING
Associate Justice
Chairperson, Second Division
CERTIFICATION
Pursuant to Section 13, Article VIII of the Constitution, and the Division
Chairpersons Attestation, it is hereby certified that the conclusions in the above
Decision had been reached in consultation before the case was assigned to the
writer of the opinion of the Courts Division.
REYNATO S. PUNO
Chief Justice
[1]
[2]
Id. at 36.
[3]
Id. at 38-56.
[4]
[6]
Id. at 175.
Id. at 57-77.
[7]
Id. at 55.
[8]
Id. at 17.
[9]
Id. at 110-111. These provisions were carried over from four (4) previous
CBAs covering the following dates: 28 August 1990 to 27 August 1991, 1 August
1993 to 31 July 1996, 1 August 1996 to 31 July 1999, and 1 August 1999 to31 July
2002.
[10]
New City Builders, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Commission, G.R. No.
149281, 15 June 2005, 460 SCRA 220, 227.
[11]
Rollo, p. 22.
[12]
Id.
[13]
Id. at 23.
[14]
Tiangco, et al. v. Hon. Leogardo, Jr., etc., et al., 207 Phil. 2235 (1983) .
[15]
[16]
[17]
[18]
[19]
[20]
[21]
[22]
[23]
[24]
[25]