Facts:
Sampaguita Auto Transport Corporation, through its officers Andy Adagio, Monina Ariola Adagio, Virgilio Olunan and Gerry Dimate, hired
Efren I. Sagad allegedly as a bus driver on May 14, 2006, a fact disputed by the parties as to whether his status was probationary or regular; Sagad disowned the signature on the company's probationary employment contract and claimed forgery. The company maintained that Sagad was a probationary employee from May 14, 2006 to October 14, 2006, that he was observed by an undercover evaluator on September 21, 2006 for reckless driving, and that conductors and a dispatcher submitted adverse reports and implicated him in proposals to cheat the company and in a hit-and-run on September 9, 2006; the company issued a memorandum dated October 15, 2006 purportedly terminating his probationary employment while Sagad alleged he was dismissed only on November 5, 2006. Sagad filed a complaint for illegal dismissal on August 10, 2007. Labor Arbiter Marita V. Padolina dismissed the complaint on May 8, 2008, finding that Sagad had failed to qualify as a regular employee, but the National Labor Relations Commission reversed on July 10, 2009, declaring illegal dismissal, finding the probationary contract signature forged, and awarding P559,050.00 in backwages and P45,000.00 in separation pay; the Court of Appeals affirmed the NLRC in a decision dated March 4, 2011, after which the company filed a Rule 45 petition for review to the Supreme Court that culminated in the present decision.
Issues:
Was Sagad illegally dismissed from employment? Was Sagad entitled to backwages and separation pay totaling P604,050.00?
Ruling:
Ratio:
Doctrine: