Case Digest (G.R. No. 202481)
Facts:
Albert B. Del Rosario et al. v. ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation, G.R. Nos. 202481, 202495 & 202497, 210165, 219125, 222057, 224879, 225101, and 225874, September 08, 2020, the Supreme Court En Banc, Caguioa, J., writing for the Court. The consolidated petitions arise from multiple regularization and illegal dismissal complaints filed by technical and production personnel (cameramen, lightmen, sound engineers, VTR operators, OB/PA drivers, etc.) who performed work on ABS-CBN’s self-produced, co-produced and live-coverage programs and who were included in ABS-CBN’s Internal Job Market (IJM) database/work pool.The workers allege they were continuously rehired, paid through ABS-CBN payroll (pay slips, BIR Form 2316, SSS, PhilHealth), supervised by production officers, required to attend training, and ultimately coerced into signing “talent”/“freelance” contracts and IJM accreditation. Beginning in 2002 ABS-CBN implemented the IJM, assigned hourly rates, and remunerated workers per hour; later memoranda and contract forms further reclassified personnel as talents/contractors. Some workers who refused to sign contracts were barred from company premises and terminated between June and September 2010, prompting multiple complaints for regularization and illegal dismissal before Labor Arbiters (LAs), the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) and the Court of Appeals (CA).
Over several years the LAs and NLRC issued varying rulings across different groups of complainants—some NLRC decisions confirmed regular status and ordered benefits; other labor tribunals/Court of Appeals divisions found no employer-employee relationship or dismissed illegal dismissal complaints (including dismissals for forum-shopping). Representative CA dispositions: CA-G.R. SP No. 117885 (G.R. No. 202481) dismissed petitioners’ regularization case; CA-G.R. SP Nos. 108552 & 108976 (G.R. Nos. 202495 & 202497) declared certain workers regular; CA-G.R. SP No. 122068 (G.R. No. 222057) found illegal dismissal and ordered reinstatement and monetary awards; other CA decisions either affirmed NLRC rulings or reversed labor tribunal ruli...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Procedural: Should the petitions be dismissed because some workers failed to file motions for reconsideration before the CA?
- Procedural: Are the workers guilty of forum shopping for filing illegal dismissal actions while their regularization cases were pending?
- Substantive/Precedential: Is the Court’s minute-resolution affirmance in Jalog v. NLRC binding and applicable to these workers?
- Substantive: Are the workers employees of ABS-CBN (i.e., does an employer-employee relationship exist)?
- Substantive: If employees, are the workers regular employees entitled to Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) benefits?
- Substantive/Remedial: Were the workers in the illegal dismissal case...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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