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Saturday, August 13, 2005
Consequences of illegal dismissal
By Dominador A. Almirante
Labor case digest
Petitioner Tomas Claudio Memorial College Inc. assailed the decision of the Court of Appeals ordering it to pay back wages to private respondent Pedro Natividad from June 13, 1996 until the judgment shall become final and executory.
It insisted that back wages should not and cannot be awarded to Natividad since it would include the period of time that the latter was in jail. He would thus enrich himself at their expense. Was there merit to this claim?
Ruling: No.
The normal consequences of a finding that an employee has been illegally dismissed are, firstly, that the employee becomes entitled to reinstatement to his former position without loss of seniority rights and secondly, the payment of back wages corresponding to the period from his illegal dismissal up to actual reinstatement.
The statutory intent on this matter is clearly discernible.
Reinstatement restores the employee who was unjustly dismissed to the position from which he was removed, that is, to his status quo ante dismissal, while the grant of back wages allows the same employee to recover from the employer that which he had lost by way of wages as a result of his dismissal.
These twin remedies—reinstatement and payment of back wages—make the dismissed employee whole who can then look forward to continued employment. Thus do these two remedies give meaning and substance to the constitutional right of labor to security of tenure.
The two forms of relief are distinct and separate, one from the other.
Though the grant of reinstatement commonly carries with it an award of back wages, the inappropriateness or non-availability of one does not carry with it the inappropriateness or non-availability of the other.
[Tomas Claudio Memorial College Inc. vs. Court of Appeals, G.R. 152568, Feb. 16, 2004 quoting Santos v. NLRC, 154 Scra 186 (1987)].
(August 13, 2005 issue)
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