GR 129824; (March, 1999) (Digest)
G.R. No. 129824. March 10, 1999.
DE PAUL/KING PHILIP CUSTOMS TAILOR, AND/OR MILAGROS CHUAKAY and WILLIAM GO, petitioners, vs. THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION (NLRC), and VICTORIANO SANTOS, et al., respondents.
FACTS
Private respondents, employees of petitioner tailoring company, formed a labor union and affiliated with the Federation of Free Workers in February 1993. They subsequently filed a petition for certification election. Following the dismissal of union officers, the union filed a notice of strike. The union president stopped working on April 6, 1993, and the other members staged a walkout on April 12, 1993. They then filed a complaint for unfair labor practice and illegal dismissal.
Petitioners contended the employees were not dismissed but had abandoned their work in preparation for a strike that did not materialize, embarrassing them into not returning. They claimed to have sent return-to-work notices, which only two employees received. Private respondents, however, alleged they were prevented from entering the premises, their machines were removed, and they were harassed, constituting constructive dismissal.
ISSUE
Whether the National Labor Relations Commission committed grave abuse of discretion in finding that private respondents were illegally dismissed.
RULING
The Supreme Court upheld the NLRC’s finding of illegal dismissal. The Court emphasized that in termination cases, the burden of proof rests on the employer to show that the dismissal was for a just or authorized cause. Petitioners failed to discharge this burden. Their claim of abandonment was not substantiated. Abandonment requires a clear, deliberate, and unjustified refusal to resume employment, which petitioners did not prove.
The alleged return-to-work notices were sent after the dates of termination (April 6 and 12, 1993) and were received only by two employees. This did not constitute proof that the others were notified or that they refused to return. The act of sending notices post-dismissal could not validate an already accomplished illegal dismissal. The NLRC correctly found the dismissal to be without just cause and due process. However, the Court modified the award, granting full backwages inclusive of allowances and benefits from the time of dismissal until actual reinstatement, in accordance with Republic Act No. 6715. The petition was dismissed.