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Saturday, August 05, 2006
Breach of trust and confidence
By Dominador A. Almirante
Labor case digest
Respondent Florentino Ramirez was hired by petitioner Coca-Cola Bottlers, Philippines Inc. as a driver-helper. When no route salesman was available, Ramirez was designated acting salesman.
Later, certain discrepancies were discovered upon review of the copies of invoices relating to the transactions of Ramirez. In terminating his services, Coca-Cola contended that even if he was occupying the position of route driver/helper, he was nevertheless performing the functions and duties of a route salesman, and as such can be dismissed on the ground of breach of trust and confidence. Was there merit to the contention?
Ruling: No.
That the individual petitioner has not been specifically trained as salesman is undisputed. It is likewise uncontroverted that before an employee could qualify as a full-fledge “salesman,” the respondent company requires as a condition sine qua non that he first undergo “basic salesman training” and several seminars to be acquainted with his specific functions.
This is understandable, because the company salesman not only must find customers, promote and sell its products, but he must also account for his sales and inventory to the last centavo, every day, according to the company’s internal controls and policies. It is obvious that this was not so with the individual petitioner. He was tasked with a duty involving trust and specialized skills for which he was never trained in. His alleged failure to comply strictly with all the procedures, of which he was unfamiliar with, was to be expected. (Coca-Cola Bottlers, Philippines Inc. versus Austria, et.al., G.R. No. 148205, Feb. 28, 2005)
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