Case Digest (G.R. No. 230576)
Case Digest (G.R. No. 230576)
Facts:
ABS-CBN Corporation v. Jaime C. Concepcion, G.R. No. 230576, October 05, 2020, the Supreme Court Third Division, Zalameda, J., writing for the Court.ABS-CBN Corporation is a domestic broadcasting corporation whose articles of incorporation show powers to produce, transmit and otherwise engage in television and radio production and related services. Jaime C. Concepcion (respondent) alleges he was hired in June 1999 as an OB (Outside Broadcast) van driver and generator-set operator under ABS-CBN’s Engineering Department, assigned to various ABS-CBN programs, supervised by ABS-CBN personnel, paid by ABS-CBN with payroll slips and statutory deductions (SSS, PhilHealth, Pag-IBIG), required to attend company seminars, and subjected to disciplinary measures (including a 2003 memorandum for an overheating generator). He joined the internal job market work pool, became a union member, and on 6 August 2010 filed a complaint for regularization; he was dismissed on 1 September 2010 after refusing to sign a contract classifying him as a non-regular/talent worker, prompting amendment of his complaint to include illegal dismissal.
At the Labor Arbiter, the complaint was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction on grounds there was no employer-employee relationship. On appeal, the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) Fifth Division (Commissioner Mercedes R. Posada-Lacap) reversed and found respondent a regular employee, ordered reinstatement and backwages (Decision dated 29 December 2011). ABS-CBN filed a motion for reconsideration and sought Commissioner Lacap’s inhibition; the NLRC Chairman created a Special Division by Administrative Order No. 03-19 (2012) to resolve the motion. The Special Division, in a Per Curiam Decision dated 29 May 2012, reversed the Fifth Division and reinstated the Labor Arbiter’s dismissal.
Respondent filed a petition for certiorari under Rule 65 before the Court of Appeals (CA). The CA, in CA-G.R. SP No. 125867, annulled and set aside the Special Division’s Per Curiam Decision and reinstated the NLRC Fifth Division Decision (CA Decision dated 20 October 2016). ABS-CBN’s motion for reconsideration before the CA was denied (Resolution dated 13 March 2017). ABS-CBN then filed the present Petition for Review before the Supreme Court seeking to reverse the CA, arguing among others that respondent failed to file a motion for reconsideration before the NLRC Special Division and that respondent was an independent contractor/talent rather than a regular employee.
Issues:
- Is respondent’s failure to file a motion for reconsideration before the NLRC Special Division fatal to his petition for certiorari in the Court of Appeals?
- Was respondent an independent contractor (talent) or a regular employee of ABS-CBN?
- If respondent was an employee, was his dismissal illegal and what remedies is he entitled to?
Ruling:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Ratio:
- (Subscriber-Only)
Doctrine:
- (Subscriber-Only)