Saturday, November 08, 2008 Award despite absence of appeal By Dominador A. Almirante Labor case digest
RESPONDENT Reynaldo Chua, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW), was awarded by the labor arbiter (LA) his salary for the unexpired portion of his contract but limited to three months.
The National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) affirmed the said award but deducted from his salary one day’s pay as penalty for tardiness he incurred. The Court of Appeals (CA) affirmed the decision of the NLRC but removed the three-month salary limitation.
Respondent did not appeal the decisions of the LA and NLRC. Did the CA err?
Ruling: No.
Indeed, a party who has failed to appeal a judgment is deemed to have acquiesced to it and can no longer obtain from the appellate court any affirmative relief other that what was already granted under said judgment.
However, when strict adherence to such technical rule will impair a substantive right, such as that of an illegally dismissed employee to monetary compensation as provided by law, then equity dictates that the Court set aside the rule to pave the way for a full and just adjudication of the case.
While as a general rule, a party who has not appealed is not entitled to affirmative relief other than the ones granted in the decision of the court below, the Court of Appeals is imbued with sufficient authority and discretion to review matters, not otherwise assigned as errors on appeal, if it finds that their consideration is necessary in arriving at a complete and just resolution of the case or to serve the interests of justice or to avoid dispensing piecemeal justice.
Substantive rights like the award of back wages resulting from illegal dismissal must not be prejudiced by a rigid and technical application of the rules. As for the order of the Court of Appeals to award back wages being a mere legal consequence of the finding that respondents were illegally dismissed by petitioners, there was no error in awarding the same. (Bahia Shipping Services Inc. versus Reynaldo Chua, G.R. No. 162195, April 8, 2008 quoting St. Michaels Institute versus Santos, 422 Philippines 723 (2001) which awarded back wages).
