Labor Relations Flashcards
Management Prerogative
Under the doctrine of management prerogative, an employer possesses the inherent right to regulate, according to its “own discretion and judgment, all aspects of employment, including:
1. hiring;
2. work assignments;
3. working methods
4. time
5. place and manner of work
6. work supervision
7. transfer of employees
8. lay-off of workers, and discipline, dismissal
9. recall of employees
Transfer of Employees
The transfer or assignment of employees in good faith is one of the acknowledged valid exercises of management prerogative “and will not, in and of itself, sustain a charge of constructive dismissal”
Labor relations
define the status, rights and duties, as well as the institutional mechanisms that govern the individual and collective interactions between employers, employees and their representatives. Unionization, negotiation, and dispute settlements fall in the area of labor relations
Art. 211
It is the policy of the State:
To promote and emphasize the primacy of free collective bargaining and negotiations, including voluntary arbitration, mediation and conciliation, as modes of settling labor or industrial disputes;
To promote free trade unionism as an instrument for the enhancement of democracy and the promotion of social justice and development;
To foster the free and voluntary organization of a strong and united labor movement;
To promote the enlightenment of workers concerning their rights and obligations as union members and as employees;
To provide an adequate administrative machinery for the expeditious settlement of labor or industrial disputes;
To ensure a stable but dynamic and just industrial peace; and
To ensure the participation of workers in decision and policy-making processes affecting their rights, duties and welfare.
To encourage a truly democratic method of regulating the relations between the employers and employees by means of agreements freely entered into through collective bargaining, no court or administrative agency or official shall have the power to set or fix wages, rates of pay, hours of work or other terms and conditions of employment, except as otherwise provided under this Code.
Reasonable proportionality rule
Infractions committed by an employee should merit only the corresponding sanction demanded by the circumstances. The penalty must be commensurate to the offense.
Constructive Dismissal
A transfer is tantamount to constructive
dismissal when it is “unreasonable, unlikely,
inconvenient, impossible, or prejudicial to the
employee.” The employer has the burden of
proving that the transfer was for just and valid
grounds, and that it was compelled by a
genuine business necessity. Failure to
overcome this burden of proof taints the
transfer, making it constructive dismissal.
When is an employee entitled to the right to join a labor union?
Any employee whether employed for a definite period or not may be eligible to join a labor union on his first day of membership
Rights of employees in the public service to self-organization
Employees of govt corporations established under the RCCP shall have the right to organize and bargain collectively with their employers.
All other employees in civil service shall have the right to form associations for purposes not contrary to law.
May supervisory employees join LO’s?
Yes. However, they shall not be eligible for membership in the collective bargaining unit of rank-and-file employees.
Doctrine of Necessary Implication
The doctrine states that what is implied in a statute is as much a part thereof as that which is expressed.
Art. 245 of the Labor Code does not directly prohibit confidential employees from engaging in union activities but under this doctrine, the disqualification of managerial employees also applies to confidential employees.
Define and provide the effects of mixed/commingling membership
Inclusion of union members of employees outside the bargaining unit. May also refers to mingling between supervisory and RAF employees.
It is not a ground for cancellation of the registration of the union. Ineligible employees are deemed automatically removed from the list of membership of the said union.
Bargaining Unit
refers to a group of employees sharing mutual interests within a given employer unit, comprised of all or less than all of the entire body of employees in the employer unit or any specific occupational or geographical grouping within such employer unit.
Factors to be considered in determining the constituency of a bargaining unit
- Will of the Employees (Globe Doctrine)
- Affinity and unity of the employees’ interest, such as substantial similarity of work and duties, or similarity of compensation and working conditions (Substantial Mutual Interest Rule)
- Prior Collective Bargaining History
- Similarity of Employment Status
Who is the exclusive bargaining representative of the employees for the purpose of collective bargaining?
The labor organization designated or selected by the majority of the employees in an appropriate collective bargaining unit.
Modes of determining a bargaining representative?
- Request for certification as sole and exclusive bargaining agent
- Certification Election
- Consent Election
- Run-off election
Consent Election
A consent election is an agreed one, its purpose
being merely to determine the issue of majority
representation of all the workers in the
appropriate collective bargaining unit.
Certification Election
process of determining through secret ballot the SEBA of employees in an appropriate bargaining unit
When may a petition for certification election be filed?
GR: Any time
Exceptions:
1. During the existence of a CBA except within the freedom period
2. Within 1 year from the date of issuance of declaration of a final certification election result
3. During the existence of a bargaining deadlock to which an incumbent or certified bargaining agent is a party and which had been submitted to concilliation/arbitration
Check Off (+ Exception)
A method of deducting from an employee’s pay at a prescribed period, the amounts due the union for fees, fines and assessments.
The authorization should specifically state the amount, purpose and and beneficiary of the deduction
Exception: Employees of an appropriate bargaining unit who are not members of the recognized bargaining agent may be assessed a reasonable fee equal to the fee paid by union members if such employee enjoys the same benefits
Economic terms and conditions of a CBA
Economic provisions are those which have direct and measurable monetary cost consequences which are included but not limited to:
1. Wage Rates
2. Allowances
3. Paid Vacation
4. Insurance
5. Pension
6. etc HAHAHA
Non Economic Terms and Conditions of a CBA
Provisions whose monetary costs cannot be directly computed such as
1. No-Strike No Lockout
2. Management Security
3. Union Security Arrangement
4. Security of Tenure
5. Management rights and prerogatives
6. Company Rules and Regulations
7. Discipline of Employees
Duty to Bargain Collectively
performance of a mutual obligation to meet and convene promptly and expeditiously in good faith for the purpose of negotiating an agreement.
Duty to Bargain Collectively in:
a. The presence of a CBA
b. Absence of a CBA
Presence: The mutual obligation of the employer and the employees’ majority union to meet and convene and, additionally, the obligation not to terminate or modify the CBA during its lifetime.
Absence: The mutual obligation of the employer and the employees’ majority union to meet and convene.
Mandatory Provisions in a CBA
- Grievance Procedure
- Voluntary Arbitration
- No-Strike No-Lockout clause
- Labor Management Council
- Terms and Conditions of Employment
60-day Freedom Period
The last sixty (60) days of the 5-year lifetime of a CBA immediately prior to its expiration is called the “freedom period”. This is the time when the parties may terminate or modify the terms and conditions of the CBA.
No petition for certification election may be entertained if filed outside the sixty-day period immediately before the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement. The purpose of the prohibition against the filing of a petition for certification election outside the so called freedom period is to ensure industrial peace between the employer and its employees during the existence of the CBA. (Republic Planters Bank General Services Employees Union, G.R. No. 119675, November 21, 1996)
Discuss the concept of ULP’s
ULP violate the constitutional right of laborers to self-organization and are inimical to the legitimate interests of both labor and management
Who has jurisdiction over ULP’s?
Labor Arbiter
ULP Elements
- There must be an employer-employee relationship between the offender and offended party;
- The act complained of must be expressly mentioned and defined in the Labor Code as ULP;
- The act complained of as ULP must have a proximate and casual connection with any of the following 3 rights:
a. Exercise of the right to selforganization;
b. Exercise of the right to collective bargaining; or
c. Compliance with the CBA.
ULP by Employers
a. Interfere, restrain or coerce employees in their right to self-organization;
b. Require a person not to join a union; Discourage Unionism;
c. Contract out services or functions being performed by union members;
d. Initiate, dominate, assist or otherwise interfere with formation or administration of any union;
e. Discriminate in terms and conditions of employment to encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization;
f. Dismiss, discharge or discriminate an employee for having given or being about to give testimony under this code;
g. Violate the duty to bargain collectively;
h. Pay negotiation or attorney‘s fees to the union or its officers or agents as part of the settlement of any issue in collective bargaining or any other disputes; or
i. Flagrant or gross refusal to comply with the economic terms of CBA.
j. Interfere, restrain or coerce employees in their right to selforganization;
Yellow Dog Contract
When the company requires as a condition of employment that a person shall not join a labor organization or shall withdraw from one to which he does not belong
When is there company unionism?
When the employer initiates, dominates, assists or otherwise interferes with the formation or administration of any labor organization, including the giving of financial or other support to it or its organizers/supporters
When is there refusal to bargain?
Where the employer did not even bother to submit an answer to the bargaining proposals of the union, there is a clear evasion of the duty to bargain collectively
Surface Bargaining
Going through the motions of negotiating without any legal intent to reach an agreement
Closed shop agreement
Arrangement between an employer and a contracting union whereby the Er binds himself to only fire from the contracting union who must continue to remain members in good standing to keep their jobs
ULP by Organizations
a. Restrain or coerce employees in the exercise of their right to selforganization;
b. Cause or attempt to cause an employer to discriminate an employee;
c. Violate the duty or refuse to bargain collectively with the employer;
d. An employer to pay or deliver any money or other things of valve, in the nature of an exaction, for services which are not performed or not to be performed;
e. Ask for negotiation or attorney‘s fees from employers as part of the settlement of any issue in collective bargaining or any other dispute; or
f. Violation of the CBA
Featherbedding
ULP by a union which causes or attempts to cause an employer to pay or deliver or agree to pay or deliver any money or thing of value, in the nature of an exception for services which are not performed, including the demand for a fee for union negotiations
Blue Sky Bargaining
Making exaggerated or unreasonable proposals
Valid Requisites for a Strike
a. notice of strike be filed with the DOLE(?) double check this 30 days before the intended date thereof, or 15 days in case of unfair labor practice; Immediately for union busting
b. a strike vote be approved by a majority of the total union membership in the bargaining unit concerned, obtained by secret ballot in a meeting called for that purpose; and
c. a notice be given to the DOLE? of the results of the voting at least seven days before the intended strike. These requirements are mandatory, and the union’s failure to comply renders the strike illegal. (Ergonomic Systems Philippines, Inc. v. Enaje, G.R. No. 195163, December 13, 2017)
Union Busting
Existence of the union is threatened by the Ee’s act of dismissing the union’s officers who have been duly-elected in accordance with its constitution and by-laws
Liability for participating in an illegal strike?
Any union officer union officer who knowingly participates in an illegal strike
Any Worker or Union Officer who knowingly participates in the commission of illegal acts during a strike may be declare to have lost his employment status
Grounds for a Valid Strike
The Labor Code and the IRR limit the grounds
for a valid strike to:
- a bargaining deadlock in the course of collective bargaining, or
- the conduct of unfair labor practices by the employer.
Only a certified or duly recognized bargaining representative may declare a strike in case of a bargaining deadlock. However, in cases of unfair labor practices, the strike may be declared by any legitimate labor organization.
Picketing
To march to and from the employer’s premises, usually accompanies by the display of placards and other signs making known the facts involved is a labor dispute
Lockout
Temporary refusal of an employer to furnish work as a result of a labor dispute
Assumption of Jurisdiction by SOLE
When there is a labor dispute causing or likely to cause a strike or lockout in any industry indispensable to national interest, SOLE may assume jurisdiction
Automatic effect of enjoining the intended or impending strike or lockout
Industries Indispensable to National Interest
a. Hospital Sector
b. Electric Power Industry
c. Water Supply Services to exclude small water services
d. Air Traffic Control
e. Such other industries as may be recommended by the national tripartite industrial peace council
Just Causes for Termination
- Serious Misconduct
- Willful Disobedience to a lawful order
- Gross and Habitual Neglect of Duty
- Fraud
- Willful breach of trust
- Commission of a crime against the person of the employer or any immediate member of his family
Serious Misconduct
a. The Misconduct must be serious
b. It must relate to the performance of his duties showing that the employee has become unfit to continue working for the employer
c. It must have been done with wrongful intent
Willful Disobedience
- The employee’s assailed conduct must have been willful characterized by a wrongful and perverse attitude
- The order violated must have been reasonable, lawful, made known to the employee, and must pertain to the duties which he had been engaged to discharge
Gross and Habitual Neglect of Duties
There must be more than one single or isolated acts of negligence that are gross in nature
Abandonment of Work
A clear and deliberative intent to discontinue one’s employment without any intention of returning back
- Failure to report to work without valid or justifiable cause
- A clear intention to sever the Er-Ee relationship
Fraud as a ground for dismissal
- Such employee holds a position if trust and confidence, either as a MANAGERIAL EE or a FIDUCIARY RANK AND FILE EE
- Ee commits an act that would justify the loss of trust and confidence of the Er
- Loss of trust and confidence is based on willful breach of trust done intentionally
Authorized Causes
Causes where the employer is authorized to separate ee’s from their employment due to legitimate business reasons
The employer is justified in letting go of an employee who is free from fault and must be given separation pay
Sexual Harassment
Act of demanding or requesting sexual favor by a person having authority or moral ascendancy over another regardless of whether the demand or request was accepted or not
Original and Exclusive Jurisdiction of the NLRC
- Labor disputes certified to it by the SOLE
- Injunction cases under Arts. 225 and 279
Appellate Jurisdiction of the NLRC
- Cases decided by the Labor Arbiter
- Cases decided by DOLE RD
Reasonable Causal Connection Doctrine
For the LA to acquire jurisdiction, the claim must have a reasonable and causal connection with the Er-Ee relationship. The principal relief sought may only be resolved in reference to the Labor Code and other labor laws
Jurisdiction of Labor Arbiters
- Unfair labor practice cases;
- Termination disputes;
- If accompanied with a claim for reinstatement, those cases that workers may file involving wages, rates of pay, hours of work and other terms and conditions of employment;
- Claims for actual, moral, exemplary and other forms of damages arising from the employer-employee relations;
- Cases arising from any violation of Article 264 of this Code, including questions involving the legality of strikes and lockouts; and
- Except claims for Employees Compensation, Social Security, Medicare and maternity benefits, all other claims arising from employer-employee relations, including those of persons in domestic or household service, involving an amount exceeding five thousand pesos (P5,000.00) regardless of whether accompanied with a claim for reinstatement.
Statutory vs Constitutional Due Process
Statutory due process should be differentiated from failure to comply with constitutional due process—constitutional due process protects the individual from the government and assures him of his rights in criminal, civil or administrative proceedings while statutory due process found in the Labor Code and Implementing Rules protects employees from being unjustly terminated without just cause after notice and hearing Agabon vs. National Labor Relations Commission, 442 SCRA 573, G.R. No. 158693 November 17, 2004
Redundancy as a ground for termination
Redundancy exists where the services of an employee are in excess of what is reasonably demanded by the actual requirements of the enterprise.
Written Notice must be given to the employee to be terminated and to the appropriate DOLE Regional Office 30 days prior to the date of intended termination.
Mejila vs. Wrigley Philippines, Inc., 919 SCRA 106, G.R. No. 199469 September 11, 2019
Bargaining Representative
Means a legitimate labor
organization whether or not employed by the employer
Boulwarism
When the Er directly negotiates with the Ee, disregarding the Union
Stages of Negotiating the Collective Bargaining Agreement
Legislative
- Preliminary Process - written demand or notice to engage in negotiations
- Negotiation Process
- Conference
- Execution Process - Signing of the Agreement
- Publication for at least 5 days before ratification (posting in 2 conspicious places of the company)
- Ratification of majority of ALL (not only members of the union) in the bargaining unit represented in the negotiation
Executive Phase
Registration, for compliance
Mandatory provisions, 5 copies, proof of raitification, registration fee
Judicial phase
Interpretation and Application process
Voluntary Arbitration Jurisdiction
1.All unresolved grievances arising
from the interpretation or
implementation of the collective
bargaining agreement;
- All unresolved grievances arising
from the implementation or
enforcement of company personnel
policies; - All wage distortion issues arising
from the application of any wage
orders in organized establishments;
and - All unresolved grievances arising
from the interpretation and
implementation of the productivity
incentive programs under R.A.
No.6971.
CONCURRENT JURISDICTION OVER labor disputes including unfair labor practice and bargaining deadlocks
Grounds for cancellation of registration
- Misrepresentation, false statements or fraud in connection with the adoption or ratification of the constitution and by-laws
- M,FS or F in connection with the election of officers, minutes of the election of officers and the list of voters
- Voluntary Dissolution of members
Effect of petition for cancellation of registration
- It does not suspend the proceedings for certification election, nor shall it prevent the filing of a petition for certification election
- In case of cancellation, nothing shall restrict the right of the Union to seek just and equitable remedies in the appropriate courts
Requisites for imposition of Agency Fees
- The employee is part of the bargaining unit
- He is not a member of the union
- He partook the benefits of the CBA
Grounds for appeals
- The decision, award or order was secured through fraud, coercion, including graft and corruption
- There is prima facie evidence of abuse of discretion on the part of the labor arbiter or regional director
- Appeal is made on purely questions of law; or
- Serious error in finding of facts are raised, which if not corrected, would cause grave or irreparable injury to the applicant
