Case Digest (G.R. No. 242506-10)
Facts:
Jules King M. Paiton, James C. Adriatico, Isagani M. Ubalde, Roland A. Agustin, Mario S. Manahan, Jr., and Jesrome C. Siega v. Armscor Global Defense, Inc., et al., G.R. No. 255656, April 25, 2022, Supreme Court Third Division, Kho, Jr., J., writing for the Court.
Petitioners were employed as machine operators and between 2016 and 2017 each filed NLRC regularization cases against Armscor Global Defense, Inc. (Armscor) and various alleged contractors, claiming regular status by operation of law and alleging labor-only contracting. The records show the regularization cases were docketed with NLRC (several NCR case numbers) and, except for Paiton and Adriatico, were on appeal to the Court of Appeals (CA) at the time this petition was filed.
While those regularization cases were pending, petitioners allege that on June 16, 2017 they were prevented from entering Armscor’s premises after Manpower Outsourcing Services, Inc. (MOSI) pulled them out when its contract with Armscor expired; they then filed an illegal constructive dismissal complaint on July 6, 2017 (NCR-07-09884-17) seeking reinstatement, damages, and attorney’s fees. Armscor (and its officers Martin Tuason and Atty. Ermilando Villafuerte) maintained petitioners were MOSI employees and denied liability; MOSI moved to dismiss the dismissal complaint for forum shopping, asserting the earlier regularization cases raised essentially the same facts and issues.
The Labor Arbiter (Andrew N. Baysa) dismissed the illegal constructive dismissal complaint on May 8, 2018 for litis pendentia/forum shopping. The National Labor Relations Commission (Commissioner Agnes Alexis A. Lucero-De Grano, concurred by other commissioners) affirmed in a Decision dated October 22, 2018 and denied reconsideration on December 27, 2018. Petitioners filed a petition for certiorari with the Court of Appeals (CA-G.R. SP No. 160018); the CA (per Justice Manuel M. Barrios) denied the petition in a June 30, 2020 Decision, and denied reconsideration in a January 8, 2021 Resolution. Petitioners ...(Subscriber-Only)
Issues:
- Did the Court of Appeals correctly hold that the NLRC did not commit grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction when it affirmed the Labor Arbiter’s dismissal of petitioners’ illegal constructive dismissal case on the ground of litis pendent...(Subscriber-Only)
Ruling:
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Ratio:
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Doctrine:
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