Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
The power of dismissal by the employer was evident when the petitioners had already been refused
entry to the premises. It is apparent that the closure of the warehouse was a ploy to get rid of the
petitioners, who were then agitating the company for reforms and benefits.
The inter-office memoranda (Documentary evidence presented by the petitioners establish
respondent SMC's right to impose disciplinary measures for violations or infractions of its rules and
regulations as well as its right to recommend transfers and dismissals of the piece workers)
submitted in evidence prove the companys control over the workers. That San Miguel has the power
to recommend penalties or dismissal is the strongest indication of the companys right of control over
the workers as direct employer.
The contract of employment executed between SMC and the said labor contractor Guaranteed and
Reliable Labor have neither substantial capital nor investment to qualify as an independent
contractor under the law. The premises, tools and equipment used by the petitioners in their jobs are
all supplied by the respondent SMC. It is only the manpower or labor force which the alleged
contractors supply, suggesting the existence of a "labor only" contracting scheme prohibited by law
SC also held that in a truly independent contractor-contractee relationship, the fees are paid directly
to the manpower agency in lump sum without indicating or implying that the basis of such lump sum
is the salary per worker multiplied by the number of workers assigned to the company. In the case a
bar, the alleged independent contractors were paid a lump sum representing only the salaries the
workers were entitled to, arrived at by adding the salaries of each worker which depend on the
volume of work they had accomplished individually. Therefore, there is no independent contractorcontractee relationship.
Respondent San Miguel Corporation was ordered to REINSTATE petitioners, with three (3) years
backwages but if reinstatement is no longer possible, the respondent SMC is ordered to pay the
petitioners separation pay equivalent to one (1) month pay for every year of service.