Case Digests

  LINGNAM RESTAURANT VS. SKILLS & TALENT EMPLOYMENT [GR No. 2146671, December 3, 2018]   FACTS: Respondent Skills & Talent Employment Pool, Inc. (STEP) is a domestic corporation engaged in manpower management and technical services, and one of its clients is petitioner Lingnam Restaurant, a business enterprise owned and operated by Liberty C. Nacion. In a contract of employment, respondent Jessie Colaste is a project employee of respondent STEP assigned to work with petitioner Lingnam Restaurant as assistant cook. On May 21, 2008, Jessie Colaste led with the Labor Arbiter an Amended Complaint for illegal dismissal against Lingnam Restaurant and STEP. Jessie Colaste alleged that on December 21, 2006, he started working at Lingnam Restaurant as an assistant cook/general utility with a salary of P350.00 a day. He worked six days a week, eight hours a day on two shifts. On March 5, 2008, Colaste reported to the main office of STEP at Ortigas Center, Pasig City. H...

  PHILIPPINE PIZZA INC., v. PORRAS [GR No. 230030, August 29, 2018]   FACTS: On various dates, respondents were hired by CBMI, a job contractor which provides kitchen, delivery, sanitation, and allied services to PPI's Pizza Hut chain of restaurants (Pizza Hut), and were thereafter deployed to the various branches of the latter. Cayetano and Deloso worked as team members/service crew, while Avenido, Gurion, Recto, and Sumbang, Jr. served as delivery riders. Respondents alleged that they rendered work for Pizza Hut, ranging from seven (7) to eleven (11) years, hence, they were regular employees of PPI and not of CBMI. They claimed to have been initially hired by PPI but were subsequently transferred to CBMI so as to prevent them from attaining their regular employment status. Despite the said transfer, however, they were still under the direct supervision of the managers of Pizza Hut and had been using its tools and machines for work. Thus, respondents, along with se...

  ABUDA, ET AL., VS. L. NATIVIDAD POULTRY FARMS [GR No. 200712, July 4, 2018]   FACTS: The workers of L. Natividad Poultry Farms (L. Natividad) led complaints for "illegal dismissal, unfair labor practice, overtime pay, holiday pay, premium pay for holiday and rest day, service incentive leave pay, thirteenth month pay, and moral and exemplary damages" against it and its owner, Juliana Natividad (Juliana), and manager, Merlinda Natividad (Merlinda). The workers claimed that L. Natividad employed and terminated their employment after several years of employment. On May 13, 2009, Labor Arbiter Robert A. Jerez (Labor Arbiter Jerez) dismissed the complaint due to lack of employer-employee relationship between the workers and L. Natividad. He ruled that San Mateo General Services (San Mateo), Wilfredo Broñola (Broñola), and Rodolfo Del Remedios (Del Remedios) were the real employers as they were the ones who employed the workers, not L. Natividad. The workers appeale...

  LINGAT ET AL., VS. COCA-COLA BOTTLERS PHILS., INC. [GR No. 205688, July 4, 2018]   FACTS On May 5, 2008, petitioners filed a Complaint for illegal dismissal, moral and exemplary damages, and attorney's fees against Coca-Cola Bottlers Phils., Inc. (CCBPI), Monte Dapples Trading Corp. (MDTC), and David Lyons (Lyons) (respondents). Petitioners averred that, in August 1993 and January 1996, CCBPI employed Lingat and Altoveros as plant driver and forklift operator, and segregator/mixer respectively. They added that they had continually worked for CCBPI until their illegal dismissal in April 2005 (Lingat) and December 2005 (Altoveros). According to petitioners, they were regular employees of CCBPI because it engaged them to perform tasks necessary and desirable in its business or trade. They explained that CCBPI made them part of its operations, and without them its products would not reach its clients. They asserted that their work was the link between CCBPI and its sal...

  MAGO ET AL., VS. SUNPOWER MFG. LTD.  [G.R. No. 210961, January 24, 2018]   FACTS: The petitioners are former employees of Jobcrest. During the time material to this case, the petitioners cohabited together. On October 10, 2008, Jobcrest and Sunpower entered into a Service Contract Agreement, in which Jobcrest undertook to provide business process services for Sunpower, a corporation principally engaged in the business of manufacturing automotive computer and other electronic parts. Jobcrest then trained its employees, including the petitioners, for purposes of their engagement in Sunpower. It was alleged that sometime in October 2011, Sunpower conducted an operational alignment, which affected some of the services supplied by Jobcrest. Sunpower decided to terminate the Coinstacking/Material Handling segment and the Visual Inspection segment. Meanwhile, Leo and Leilanie were respectively on paternity and maternity leave because Leilanie was due to give birth ...

  MANUEL G. ACOSTA v. MATIERE SAS and PHILIPPE GOUVARY [G.R. No. 232870. June 3, 2019.]   FACTS: Matiere SAS is a French company engaged in the fabrication, supply, and delivery of unibridges and flyovers. Matiere SAS, represented by its resident manager Philippe Gouvary, executed a Consulting Agreement with Acosta. Thereafter, Matiere SAS hired Acosta as its technical assistant. On June 27, 2013, Matiere SAS sent Acosta a letter informing him that his employment will end July 31, 2013 due to the cessation of its delivery operations and the diminution of its activities. In a June 26, 2013 letter, Matiere SAS informed DOLE that it would have to terminate the employment of its 5 workers, including Acosta, due to redundancy and the completion of delivery of supplies. Acosta filed a Complaint for illegal dismissal against Matiere SAS and Gouvary.   ISSUE: Whether or not Acosta was validly dismissed from employment on the ground of redundancy.   ...

  SONEDCO WORKERS FREE LABOR UNION ET AL., v. UNIVERSAL ROBINA CORP. G.R. No. 220383, October 5, 2016 (Main Decision) & July 5, 2019 (Resolution) FACTS : In 2002, Universal Robina Corporation Sugar Division-Southern Negros Development Corporation (URC-SONEDCO) and Philippine Agricultural Commercial and Industrial Workers Union (PACIWU-TUCP), then the exclusive bargaining representative of URC-SONEDCO's rank-and-file employees, entered into a Collective Bargaining Agreement (2002 CBA). Under the 2002 CBA, rank-and-file employees were entitled to a wage increase of P14.00/day for 2002 and P12.00/day for the succeeding years until 2006. Days after the 2002 CBA was signed, a certification election was conducted. SONEDCO Workers Free Labor Union won and replaced PACIWU-TUCP as the exclusive bargaining representative. URC-SONEDCO consistently refused to negotiate a new CBA with SONEDCO Workers Free Labor Union, despite several demands from SONEDCO Workers Free Labor Union. ...