Case Digest (G.R. No. L-15163)
Facts:
Elizalde Rope Factory, Inc. v. Social Security Commission, G.R. No. L-15163, February 28, 1962, the Supreme Court En Banc, Padilla, J., writing for the Court.
The petitioner and appellant is Elizalde Rope Factory, Inc.; the respondent and appellee is the Social Security Commission. The dispute arose from unpaid Social Security premiums for a striker, Edilberto Tupas.
On 17 September 1957 the laborers of Elizalde Rope Factory, Inc. went on strike; the strike ended in mid-February 1958. From October 1957 through January 1958 (the strike period) the factory did not remit Social Security premiums for Tupas; remittances resumed in February 1958 and continued until Tupas’s death on 6 May 1958. On 16 July 1958 the Social Security Commission sent Bill No. 138 to the factory for P10.27, representing the Commission’s assessment of unpaid contributions for Tupas.
By letter dated 23 July 1958 the factory protested, asserting that P9.45 (the employer’s 3½% contribution for October–December 1957) should be for Tupas’s account because he was unemployed during the strike and had received no wages; the factory offered to pay only P0.82 for underpaid May 1958 premium. On 4 November 1958 the Commission replied, declared the strike “not unlawful,” and reiterated the demand. Attached to the Commission’s letter were Circular No. 21 (dated 15 October 1958) clarifying that the employer’s 3½% obligation continues during leaves without pay and when an employee has no earnings, and a 28 October 1958 Legal Staff memorandum recommending that the employer pay the 3½% for Tupas for October 1957–February 1958 (and similar treatment for other strikers), with contributions computed on the wages received in August 1957.
The facto...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- During a period when a covered worker is on strike and renders no services or receives no wages, must the employer nevertheless pay the employer’s 3½% Social Security contribution for tho...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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