CASE 2017-0040: EXPEDITION CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION ET AL VS ALEXANDER M. AFRICA ET AL. (G.R. NO. 228671, 14 DEC 2017, DEL CASTILLO, J.) (SUBJECT/S: FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE EVEN WITHOUT ILLEGAL DISMISSAL) (BRIEF TITLE: EXPEDITION CONSTRUCTION VS AFRICA ET AL)

 

DISPOSITIVE:

 

 “WHEREFORE, the Petition for Review on Certiorari is PARTLY GRANTED. The assailed Decision dated March 3 l, 2016 and Resolution dated December 9, 2016 of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. SP No. 142007 are AFFIRMED with MODIFICATION that the awards of reinstatement, back wages, attorney’s fees and.legal interest are DELETED there being no illegal dismissal. The award of separation pay, as a form of financial assistance, in the National Labor Relations Commission’s Resolution dated April 30, 2015 is REINSTATED.

 

SO ORDERED.”

 

 SUBJECTS/DOCTRINES/DIGEST:

 

THERE IS NO FINDING OF ILLEGAL DISMISSAL. IS AWARD OF SEPARATION PAY/FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE STILL PROPER?

 

YES AS A MEASURE OF SOCIAL JUSTICE UNDER EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES.

 

“As a measure of social justice, the award of separation pay/financial assistance has been upheld in some cases 40 even if there is no finding of illegal dismissal. The Court, in Eastern Shipping Lines, Inc. v. Sedan,41 had this to say:

 

x x x We are not unmindful of the rule that financial assistance is allowed only in instances where the employee is validly dismisse<l for causes other than serious misconduct or those reflecting on his moral character. Neither are we unmindful of this Court’s pronouncements in Arc~Men Food Industries Corporation v. NLRC, and Lemery Savings and Loan Bank v. NLRC, where the Court ruled that when there is no dismissal to spe~1k of, an award of financial assistance is not in order.

 

But we must stress that this Court did allow, in several instances, the grant of financial assistance. In the words of Justice Sabino de Leon, Jr., now deceased, financial assistance may be allowed as a measure of social justice [under] exceptional circumstances, and as an equitable concession. The instant case equally calls for balancing the interests of the employer with those of the worker, if only to approximate what Justice Laurel calls justice in its secular sense.

 

In a Manifestation42 submitted before the CA, Expedition expressed willingness to extend gratuitous assistance to respondents and to pay them the amounts equivalent to the separation pay awarded to each respondent in the April 30, 2015 NLRC Resolution. ln view of this and taking into account respondents’ long years of service ranging from four to 1 5 years, the Court finds that the grant of separation pay at the rate of one-half (Yi) month’s salary for every year of service, as adjudged in the April 30, 2015 Resolution of the NLRC, is proper.”

  

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SCD-2017-0040-EXPEDITION CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION ET AL VS ALEXANDER M. AFRICA ET AL.

 

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