Amante, Kevin Q.

JD3
Third Week’s Report

I was assigned in the NLRC Sub- Regional Arbitration Branch in San Pablo City, Laguna
and NLRC Regional Arbitration Branch in Calamba, Laguna for my third week of internship.

The tasks assigned to me were to decide pending labor cases, act as a complaint officer
and a financial analyst.

The following cases where assigned to me:

1. A case where the complainant was allegedly absent for most of 2017. The
complainant’s defense is that he was ill and was able to present proof that he was indeed
confined in a hospital. Respondent’s defense is that they terminated the complainant due to
willful disobedience.

2. A case where complainant bus conductor allegedly issued a ticket with the wrong
amount to a passenger. Respondents in this case dismissed the complainant for having defrauded
the former. It was also undisputed that complainant in this case remitted the excess collection
obtained from the incident.

The cases were decided as follows:

1. Respondents in this case were able to prove that complainant’s dismissal was for a just
and valid cause.

Willful disobedience of the employer’s lawful orders, as a just cause for dismissal of an
employee, envisages the concurrence of at least two requisites: (1) the employee’s assailed
conduct must have been willful, that is, characterized by a wrongful and perverse attitude; and
(2) 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.

It was undisputed that complainant incurred the alleged absences without leave. In his
reply, complainant even pointed out that his transgressions were made far apart from each other.
However, he alleges that he incurred the said absences due to medical reasons.

The unauthorized absences incurred by complainant was too severe to be excused even if
some of the absences were due to medical reasons. Complainant was only able to render for
work for a total of 60 days in 2015. Further, complainant was only able to provide a medical
certificate for two dates; namely: 04 October 2015 and 18 July 2016.

This repeated unauthorized absences is a clear display of willful disobedience that

warrants dismissal.

Further, the totality of infractions or the number of violations committed during the
period of employment shall be considered in determining the penalty to be imposed upon an
erring employee. The offenses committed by him should not be taken singly and separately but
in their totality. Fitness for continued

2. Complainant was terminated for a just and valid ground.

Loss of confidence as a just cause for termination of employment is premised from the
fact that an employee concerned holds a position of trust and confidence. This situation holds
where a person is entrusted with confidence on delicate matters, such as the custody, handling, or
care and protection of the employer's property. But, in order to constitute a just cause for
dismissal, the act complained of must be "work-related" such as would show the employee
concerned to be unfit to continue working for the employer.

Complainant’s act of issuing a ticket contrary to that which he charged from the
passenger constitutes fraud or breach of trust against respondents especially so as it is prohibited
by the policy of the company. His act of remitting the P1, 000.00 was clearly an afterthought as
it was made only 5 days or on 19 May 2017 after the passenger complained him to the company
on 14 May 2017.

In fine, complainant was not illegally dismissed.

This week, most of my duties were to act as a financial analyst. My main duty was to
analyze and compute for the monetary benefits to be awarded to the complainants.

I was also unable to finish one case which I would have to continue on Monday, 23 July,
2018 due to the sheer number of evidence that the complainants (3 in this case) and the
respondents attached in their respective position papers. The case was fairly difficult to decide
because of the banking concepts inherent in the case.

The problem that I encountered this week is the difficulty of going to two different
offices. Going to NLRC Calamba was especially taxing not only due to the distance but also due
to the heavy traffic and the bad weather.