1. Question: As a rule, when is retirement due?

Answer: Under Article 287, the are two types of retirement: (1) optional retirement, which
may be availed of by an employee reaching the age of 60 years; and (2) compulsory
retirement, which may be availed of by an employee upon reaching the age of 65 years. In
both instances, the law imposes the minimum service requirement of 5 years with the
establishment.
Topic: Retirement

2. Question: What limitations, if any, do the law and jurisprudence impose on an employer’s
right to terminate the services of a probationary employee?
Answer: Under Article 281, the services of an employee who has been engaged on a
probationary basis may be terminated for just cause or when he fails to qualify as a regular
employee in accordance with reasonable standards made known by the employer to the
employee at the time of his engagement. If the probationary employee is being terminated
for just cause, he must be accorded due process before his termination.
Topic: Kinds of employment

3. Question: What is a “labor-only” contract?

Answer: Under Article 106, a “labor-only” contract is a contract between an employer and a
person who supplies workers to such employer where the person supplying workers does
not have substantial capital or investment in the form of tools, equipment, machineries,
work premises, among others, and the workers recruited and placed by such person are
performing activities which are directly related to the principal business of such employer.
Topic: Legitimate subcontracting as distinguished from labor-only contracting

4. Question: An accidental fire gutted the ABC factory in Valenzuela. ABC decided to suspend
operations and requested its employees to stop reporting for work. After six months, ABC
resumed operations but hired a new set of employees. The old set of employees filed a case
for illegal dismissal. If you were the Labor Arbiter, how would you decide the case?
Answer: I will rule in favor of the employees. Under Article 286, an employer may bona fide
suspend the operations of its business for a period not exceeding six months. In such a case,
there would be no termination of the employment, only temporary displacement. ABC
merely suspended its operations as a result of the fire that gutted its factory. As held by the
Court in Sebuguero vs. NLRC, since the suspension lasted for more than six months, it is
tantamount to constructive dismissal.
Topic: Constructive dismissal
5. Question: distinguish between dismissal of an employee for just cause and termination of
employment for authorized cause.
Answer: Dismissal for a just cause is founded on fault or misdeeds of the employee. As a
rule, separation will not be paid. On the other hand, termination for authorized causes are
based on business exigencies or measures adopted by the employer, not constituting faults if
the employee. Payment of separation pay is required.
Topic: Termination by employer

6. Question: Assuming the existence of valid grounds for dismissal, what are the requirements
before an employer can terminated the services of an employee?
Answer: Assuming that there is valid ground to terminated employment, the employer
must comply with the requirement of procedural due process. According to the Court in
Tanala vs. NLRC, to meet the requirements of due process, the law requires that an
employer must furnish the workers sought to be dismissed with two written notices before
termination of employment can be legally effected, that is, (1) a notice which apprises the
employee of the particular act/s or omission/s for which his dismissal is sought, and (2)
subsequent notice, after due hearing, which informs the employee of the employers decision
to dismiss him.
Topic: Procedural due process

7. Question: Discuss briefly the instances when noncompliance by the employer with a
reinstatement order of an illegally dismissed employee is allowed.
Answer: Despite a reinstatement order, an employer may not reinstate an employee (a)
when the position or any substantial equivalent thereof no longer exists, (b) when
reinstatement has been rendered moot and academic by supervening events, such as
insolvency if the employer as declared by the court or closure of business, or (c) the
existence of strained relations between the employer and the illegally dismissed employee,
provided the matter is raised before the Labor Arbiter. Under Article 223, in the event that
reinstatement is no longer feasible, or if the employee chooses not to be reinstated, the
employer shall pay him separation pay in lieu of reinstatement pending appeal.
Topic: Reliefs from illegal dismissal

8. Question: Company 1 contracts out its clerical and janitorial services. In the negotiations of
its CBA, the union insisted that henceforth, the company may no longer engage in
contracting out these types of services, which services the union claims to be necessary in
the company’s business, without prior consultation. Is the union’s stand valid or not?
Answer: No, the union’s stand is not valid. It is part of management prerogative to contract
out any work, task, job or project; the exception is that when such contracting out of services
or functions performed by union members will interfere with, restrain, or coerce employees
 in their right to self-organization, in which case it becomes an unfair labor practice. In this
case, it was not shown that the employees were restrained or coerced, or that their exercise
of right to self-organization has been interfered with (Article 248[c]). Thus, the union’s stand
is not valid.
Topic: Unfair labor practice by employers

9. Question: A labor union lawyer opined that a labor organization is a private and voluntary
organization, hence, a union can deny membership to any and all applicants. Is this opinion
in accord with law?
Answer: No, it is not in accord with law. Article 249 (a) and (b) provides that a labor
organization has the right to prescribe its own rules for the acquisition or retention of
membership, but it is an unfair labor practice for a labor organization to restrain or coerce
employees in the exercise of their right to self-organization. Thus, a labor organization
cannot discriminate against any employee by denying such employee membership in the
labor organization on any ground other than the usual terms and conditions under which
membership or continuation of union membership is made available to other members.
Topic: Unfair labor practice by labor organizations

10. Question: The day following the workers’ voluntary return to work, the Company
Production Manager discovered an unusual sharp drop in workers’ output. It was evidently
clear that the workers are engaged in a work slowdown activity. Is the work slowdown a
valid form of strike activity?
Answer: No, a work slowdown is not a valid form of strike activity. Under Article 212(o), if
workers are to strike, there should be temporary stoppage of work by the concerted action
of employees as a result of an industrial or labor dispute.
Topic: Peaceful concerted activities by labor organization

11. Question: The workers engaged in picketing activity in the course of a strike. Will picketing
be legal if non-employees of the strike-bound employer participate in the activity? Can
picketing activity be curtailed when illegal acts are committed by the picketing workers in
the course of the activity?
Answer: Yes, picketing is legal even if non-employees join it. Picketing is a form of exercies
of the freedom of speech; it is a constitutional right, provided that it is held peacefully.
According to De Leon vs. National Labor Union, the disputants in a legal dispute need not
be employer-employee of each other.
No, the picketing activity itself cannot be curtailed; what can be curtailed are the illegal acts
being done in the course of the picket. However, according to the Court in Nagkakaisang
Manggagawa sa Cuison Hotel vs. Libran, if it is a “national interest” case under Article
 263(g), the strike or work stoppage may be stopped by the power of assumption of
jurisdiction or certification of the case to the National Labor Relations Commission.
Topic: Picket

12. Question: Under what conditions may the Secretary of Labor or his duly authorized
representative inquire into the financial activities of legitimate labor organizations?
Answer: Article 274 authorizes the Secretary of Labor and Employment or his duly
authorized representative to inquire into the financial activities of any labor organization on
the basis of a complaint under oath, supported by 20% of the membership in order to
determine compliance or noncompliance with the law and to aid in the prosecution of any
violation thereof.
Topic: Visitorial and enforcement powers

13. Question: State the cases when a labor dispute would fall under the jurisdiction of voluntary
arbitrators or panel of voluntary arbitrators.
Answer: Under Article 261, a labor dispute falls under the jurisdiction of a voluntary
arbitrator or a panel of voluntary arbitrators if a labor dispute arises from an unresolved
grievance which in turn arises from the interpretation or implementation of a collective
bargaining agreement or of company personnel policies. Upon agreement of parties, a
voluntary arbitrator or panel of voluntary arbitrators may also hear and decide all other
labor disputes including unfair labor practices and bargaining deadlock (Article 262).
Topic: Voluntary Arbitrator jurisdiction

14. Question: A driver for a bus company sued his employer for non-payment of commutable
service incentive leave credits upon his resignation after five years of employment. The bus
company argued that he was not entitled to service incentive leave since he was considered
a field personnel and was paid on commission basis, and that in any event, his claim had
prescribed. If you were the Labor Arbiter, how would you rule?
Answer: I will dismiss the case. Under Article 291, all money claims arising from employer-
employee relations occurring during the effectivity of the Code shall be filed within three
years from the time that the cause of action has accrued; otherwise, they shall forever be
barred. The cause of action has already prescribed because the claim was filed after five
years from the date of negotiation.
Topic: Prescription of actions - money claims