15.) Roque Duterte V Kingswood Trading - FALGUI

Digest Author: F.
Falgui
ROQUE S. DUTERTE v KINGSWOOD TRADING (2007)

Petitioner: ROQUE S. DUTERTE
Respondent: KINGSWOOD TRADING CO., INC., FILEMON LIM and
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION,
DOCTRINE: the employer, before it can legally dismiss its employee on the
ground of disease, must adduce a certification from a competent public
authority that the disease of which its employee is suffering is of such nature
or at such a stage that it cannot be cured within a period of six months even
with proper treatment.
FACTS:
1. Petitioner was hired as truck/trailer driver by respondent Kingswood
(KTC) .Petitioner was on the 6:00 a.m. 6:00 p.m. shift. He averaged 21
trips per month, getting P700 per trip. When not driving, petitioner was
assigned to clean and maintain respondent KTCs equipment and
vehicles for which he was paid P125 per day.
2. Petitioner suffered a heart attack and was confined for two weeks at the
Philippine Heart Center (PHC) as confirmed by respondent KTC which
admitted that petitioner was declared on sick leave.
3. A month later, petitioner returned to work armed with a medical certificate
signed by his attending physician at the PHC, attesting to petitioners
fitness to work. However, said certificate was not honored by the
respondents who refused to allow petitioner to work.
4. He suffered a second heart attack and was again confined at the PHC.
5. Petitioner attempted to report back to work but was told to look for
another job because he was unfit. Respondents refused to declare
petitioner fit to work unless physically examined by the company
physician.
6. Respondents promise to pay petitioner his separation pay turned out to
be an empty one. Instead, petitioner was asked to sign a document as
proof of his receipt of the amount of P14,375.00 as first installment of his
SSS benefits. Having received no such amount, petitioner refused to affix
his signature thereon and instead requested for the necessary
documents from respondents to enable him to claim his SSS benefits,
but the latter did not heed his request.
7. petitioner filed against his employer a complaint for illegal dismissal and
damages.
8. LA found for the petitioner. However, while categorically declaring that
petitioners dismissal was illegal, the labor arbiter, instead of applying
Article 279 of the Labor Code on illegal dismissals, applied Article 284
on Disease as ground for termination on the rationale that since the
respondents admitted that petitioner could not be allowed back to work
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because of the latters disease, the case fell within the ambit of Article
284
9. On respondents appeal, the NLRC set aside the LA decision, ruling that
Article 284 of the Labor Code has no application to this case, there
being no illegal dismissal to speak of. CA affirmed.
ISSUES:
1. WON the dismissal of an employee on the ground of disease still
requires the employer to present a certification from a competent
public health authority that the disease is of such a nature that it
could not be cured within a period of six months even with proper
medical treatment Y
2. WON he was a field worker not entitled to the benefits of a regular
employee-N
RULING + RATIO:
1. YES. The law is unequivocal: the employer, before it can legally dismiss its
employee on the ground of disease, must adduce a certification from a
competent public authority that the disease of which its employee is suffering
is of such nature or at such a stage that it cannot be cured within a period of
six months even with proper treatment.
Here, the record does not contain the required certification. And when the
respondents asked the petitioner to look for another job because he was unfit
to work, such unilateral declaration, even if backed up by the findings of its
company doctors, did not meet the quantum requirement mandated by the
law, i.e., there must be a certification by a competent public authority.
The requirement for a medical certificate under Article 284 of the Labor Code
cannot be dispensed with; otherwise, it would sanction the unilateral and
arbitrary determination by the employer of the gravity or extent of the
employees illness and thus defeat the public policy on the protection of labor.
Even assuming, in gratia argumenti, that petitioner committed what may be
considered an act of insubordination for refusing to present a medical
certificate, such offense, without more, certainly did not warrant the latters
placement in a floating status, a veritable dismissal, and deprived of his only
source of livelihood.
We are not unmindful of the connection between the nature of petitioners
disease and his job as a truck/trailer driver. We are also fully aware that
petitioners job places at stake the safety of the public. However, Petitioner
could have been admitted back to work performing other tasks, such as
cleaning and maintaining respondent companys machine and transportation
assets.
Digest Author: F. Falgui

2. NO. If required to be at specific places at specific times, employees,
including drivers, cannot be said to be field personnel despite the fact that
they are performing work away from the principal office of the employer.To
determine whether an employee is a field employee, it is also necessary to
ascertain if actual hours of work in the field can be determined with
reasonable certainty by the employer. In so doing, an inquiry must be made
as to whether or not the employees time and performance are constantly
supervised by the employer.
Petitioner was definitely a regular employee of respondent company and not
its field personnel, as the term is used in the Labor Code. As it were, he was
based at the principal office of the respondent company. His actual work
hours, i.e., from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., were ascertainable with reasonable
certainty. He averaged 21 trips per month. And if not driving for the company,
he was paid P125.00 per day for cleaning and maintaining KTCs
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equipment. Not falling under the category of field personnel, petitioner is
consequently entitled to both holiday pay and service incentive leave pay.
DISPOSITION: WHEREFORE, the assailed decision of the CA in CA-G.R.
SP
No.
71729 is REVERSED and SET
ASIDE. Respondents
are
declared guilty of illegal dismissal and are ordered to pay petitioner
separation pay equivalent to one (1) month pay for every year of service, in
lieu of his reinstatement, plus his full backwages from the time his
employment was terminated up to the time this Decision becomes final. For
this purpose, let this case be REMANDED to the labor arbiter for the
computation of petitioners separation pay, backwages and other monetary
awards due him.

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Digest Author: F.

ROQUE S. DUTERTE v KINGSWOOD TRADING (2007)

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Digest Author: F. Falgui

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