PETITIONER Narciso T. Matis was a foreman of respondent Manila Electric Company (Meralco). Around 10:30 p.m. last May 25, 2006, while the Meralco crews including Matis were working, Norberto Llanes, a non-Meralco employee, was hanging around the work site. Llanes boarded the truck manned by Matis and other crew and filched materials while Matis was around. For more than two hours, Llanes was walking around, boarding the trucks, freely sorting and choosing materals and tools inside the trucks then putting them in his backpack, talking casually with the crew, and even drinking water from the crew’s jug.
Unknown to Matis and company, a Meralco surveillance team was monitoring their activities and recording them with a Sony Video 8 camera. Consequently, last July 27, 2006 Matis and the others were dismissed on the grounds of serious misconduct, fraud or willful breach of trust.
The Labor Arbiter (LA) ruled that Matis and the others were not illegally dismissed. The National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) reversed the LA decision and ruled that they were validly dismissed. It held that they were guilty of gross negligence amounting to a breach of trust and confidence reposed upon them. The Court of Appeals (CA) affirmed the decision of the NLRC. Matis argued that as a foreman he was not a managerial employee and did not occupy a position of trust. Does this argument find merit?
Ruling: No.
The Supreme Court was not persuaded. Loss of confidence applies to: (1) employees occupying positions of trust and confidence, the managerial employees; and (2) employees who are routinely charged with the care and custody of the employer’s money or property which may include rank-and-file employees, e.g., cashiers, auditors, property custodians, or those who, in the normal routine exercise of their functions, regularly handle significant amounts of money or property.
It is established that Matis was a foreman with a monthly salary of P57,000 at the time of his dismissal. The vehicles being utilized in the repair and maintenance of Meralco’s distribution lines ordinarily carried necessary equipment, tools, supplies and materials. Thus, Matis, as the foreman, is routinely entrusted with the care and custody of Meralco’s properties in the exercise of his function.
In the case of Apo Cement Corp. v. Baptisma, 688 Phil. 468, 480-481 (2012), it was held that for an employer to validly dismiss an employee on the ground of loss of trust and confidence, the following guidelines must be observed: (1) loss of confidence should not be simulated; (2) it should not be used as subterfuge for causes which are improper, illegal or unjustified; (3) it may not be arbitrarily asserted in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary; and (4) it must be genuine, not a mere afterthought to justify earlier action taken in bad faith. More importantly, the loss must be founded on clearly established facts sufficient to warrant the employee’s separation from work.
Contrary to his allegation that he failed to notice the thievery because he and the crew were preoccupied with the replacement of the rotting post, Matis lingered, by his admission, to supposedly look after the truck. As established, the crew exhibited familiarity with the culprit during the entire operations. Based on the testimonies of the witnesses, Llanes was seen picking up unused supplies and materials that were not returned to the company in the past operations. He was casually boarding the trucks despite the same being prohibited from non-Meralco employees. Matis was seen conversing intimately with Llanes inside Truck 1891. Thereafter, Llanes was able to filch Meralco properties in the presence of Matis. Thus, Matis was complicit in the pilferage by being familiar with Llanes, by his inaction while the looting was being perpetrated, and by not reporting the same to the authorities and to Meralco. The totality of the circumstances convinces this Court that Matis is guilty of breach of trust (Peralta, J., SC 3rd Div., Narciso T. Matis vs. Manila Electric Company, G.R. No. 206629, September 14, 2016).
(Almirante is a former labor arbiter.)