GR 150761; (May, 2004) (Digest)
G.R. No. 150761 ; May 19, 2004
SMC Quarry 2 Workers Union – February Six Movement (FSM) Local Chapter No. 1564 (for and in behalf of its members), petitioner, vs. Titan Megabags Industrial Corporation, respondent.
FACTS
Petitioner SMC Quarry 2 Workers Union filed a petition for certification election to represent the regular rank-and-file workers of respondent Titan Megabags Industrial Corporation. Respondent opposed, contending that the union members were not its employees but were workers of Stitchers Multi-Purpose Cooperative (SMC), an independent contractor it engaged to manufacture bags. The Med-Arbiter ruled in favor of the union, finding an employer-employee relationship and ordering a certification election. The Office of the DOLE Secretary affirmed this order in a Resolution dated April 13, 2000.
Respondent filed a motion for reconsideration, which the DOLE Secretary denied in a Resolution dated March 19, 2001 for being filed seven days late. Respondent then filed a petition for certiorari with the Court of Appeals, which set aside the DOLE Secretary’s Resolutions and disallowed the certification election, prompting the union to elevate the case to the Supreme Court.
ISSUE
Whether the Court of Appeals erred in granting respondent’s petition for certiorari and ruling on the substantive issue of employer-employee relationship.
RULING
Yes. The Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals and reinstated the DOLE Secretary’s Resolutions. The ruling is anchored on procedural finality and the limited role of an employer in certification proceedings. Under the Labor Code and its implementing rules, a Decision or Resolution of the DOLE Secretary on appeal from a Med-Arbiter’s certification election order becomes final and executory. The aggrieved party’s remedy is to timely file a motion for reconsideration as a precondition for a subsequent certiorari petition under Rule 65.
Respondent’s failure to file its motion for reconsideration within the ten-day reglementary period rendered the DOLE Secretary’s April 13, 2000 Resolution final and executory. This procedural lapse was jurisdictional and fatal, stripping the Court of Appeals of any authority to review the merits of the case. Consequently, the appellate court committed error in entertaining the petition and ruling on the existence of an employer-employee relationship.
Moreover, even absent this procedural flaw, the Court emphasized that in certification elections, the employer is merely a bystander with no legal right or material interest to oppose the petition or assail the choice of bargaining representative. The employer’s proper role is one of neutrality. Therefore, the Court of Appeals should have denied respondent’s petition outright.