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The labor justice system at work

Labor disputes are subject to the state’s law processes. Thus, it should be filed at the Regional Office of the National and Labor Relations Commission (NLRC). Parties involved wait for the decision of the Labor Arbiter once the NLRC works on the case.

Once the Labor Arbiter has made a decision, the losing party may file an appeal at the National Office of the NLRC, but the case will not stop there. Still, the decision of the NLRC case can be contested at the Court of Appeals (CoA), until the case reaches the highest deciding body, which is the Supreme Court.

This is the legal process of settling every labor dispute. The question, however, remains whether justice prevails for the aggrieved party.

Illegal dismissal

Saturnino Osboken worked as a cager for Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company (LCMCo) for three years. The LCMCo fired him on May 28, 2001 on the basis of gross negligence of duties resulting to major damage to the company properties and assets.

Osboken filed an illegal dismissal case against the mining giant on June 15, 2001, demanding that he be reinstated to work with full back wages and without losing seniority rights. The Labor Arbiter decided six months later that he be reinstated. LCMCo contested this and appealed to the national office of NLRC in Quezon City on January 23, 2002.

LCMCo’s Accident Prevention Investigation Committee (APIC) reported that sometime on April 24, 2001, Osboken, who was on duty, failed to secure the stabilizing chains of the machines which resulted to the snapping and jerking of a cage that carried mining equipment. APIC declared that he had cost the company P50,000 worth of damages.

This resulted to the notification of his separation from his employment to the company. Osboken sued the company for charges of illegal dismissal and argued that the penalty for gross negligence resulting to minor damage to company equipment and assets should only be a 30-day suspension. Thus, he said, the company overreacted on dismissing him.

Osboken and his counsel also rejected the cost he supposedly owed the company. The amount, compared with the total assets of the company at that time which totaled a little over P8 billion, was only .000621 %, making the declared damage very negligible as it hardly caused a dent on the gigantic assets of LCMCo.

Then Executive Labor Arbiter Rolando Gambito of NLRC-CAR ruled that Osboken was illegally dismissed from his job. Gambito ordered LCMCo to reinstate Osboken and be paid his back wages.

As the case was docked at the NLRC-Quezon City, Osboken had no other choice but to look for another job to feed his family.

The case is still at the NLRC national office. Both Osboken and LCMCo await the next decision. Whether the decision favors Osboken or the company, the two are entitled to go to the CoA.

However, comparing Osboken’s economic state to that of LCMCo, the richer entity will be the one able to withstand the long process of legal settlements.

Nobody can be kept from thinking that filing a labor case is similar to putting it to rest in a graveyard because of the long process which most of the time can only be endured by those who have enough resources.# Aldwin Quitasol for Nordis

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