G.R. No. 202131. September 21, 2022
ABS-CBN IJM WORKERS UNION, PETITIONER, VS. ABS-CBN CORPORATION, RESPONDENT.

FACTS

ABS-CBN Corporation implemented an Internal Job Market (IJM) system, a database of accredited technical and creative manpower hired for specific projects. Workers engaged through this system, including camera personnel, audio engineers, and video editors, formed the ABS-CBN IJM Workers Union (AIWU). In 2009, AIWU filed a petition for certification election before the Bureau of Labor Relations, claiming to represent 1,101 IJM workers. ABS-CBN opposed the petition, arguing no employer-employee relationship existed between it and the IJM workers. It cited prior National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) rulings in specific cases involving some petition signatories, which found no such relationship. The Mediator-Arbiter denied the petition, upholding ABS-CBN’s position and deferring to the NLRC’s findings.
AIWU appealed to the DOLE Secretary, who reversed the Mediator-Arbiter. The Secretary found that the IJM workers were regular employees based on the four-fold test and controlling Supreme Court jurisprudence in ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp. v. Nazareno, which involved similarly situated production personnel. The Court of Appeals, however, set aside the DOLE Secretary’s decision. It ruled that the Secretary gravely abused her discretion by preemptively determining the existence of an employer-employee relationship—a question it held was beyond her jurisdiction in a certification election proceeding and was best left to the labor tribunals.

ISSUE

Whether the Court of Appeals erred in reversing the DOLE Secretary’s decision which directed the holding of a certification election among the IJM workers.

RULING

No, the Court of Appeals did not err. The Supreme Court affirmed the appellate court’s decision, emphasizing the limited jurisdiction of the DOLE Secretary in certification election proceedings. The Court reiterated the settled doctrine that the mere filing of a petition for certification election does not automatically confer an employer-employee relationship. The DOLE’s authority in such proceedings is non-adversarial and merely administrative, aimed at determining the proper bargaining unit and ascertaining the majority representation of employees. The existence of an employer-employee relationship is a substantive issue that requires a thorough examination of evidence, which is within the original and exclusive jurisdiction of the Labor Arbiter under Article 217 of the Labor Code.
The Court clarified that while the DOLE may initially examine this relationship for the purpose of determining the legitimacy of the petitioning union’s membership, a prima facie showing is sufficient. A full-blown determination is not required and would be improper. Here, the conflicting claims and the cited NLRC rulings negating employment created a serious doubt that could not be summarily resolved. The DOLE Secretary overstepped her jurisdiction by making a definitive ruling on the regular employment status of the IJM workers, thereby encroaching upon the domain of the Labor Arbiter. Consequently, the proper course was to deny the petition for certification election without prejudice to its refiling once the status of the IJM workers is conclusively settled in the appropriate forum. The Court’s ruling in Nazareno was deemed not automatically controlling as it involved a different factual milieu and a distinct set of employees adjudicated in a separate proceeding.