Republic of the Philippines
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS
COMMISSION
Sub-Regional Arbitration Branch VII
Dumaguete City
|
MR. X, Complainant, -versus-
AAA SECURITY AGENCY AND/OR MR. Y, OWNER Respondent. |
RAB No. VII-08-0000-24-D |
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POSITION PAPER
(FOR THE RESPONDENT)
Respondent, by the undersigned counsel, respectfully submits his Position Paper, alleging as follows:
1.
That the complainant MR. X is Filipino, of legal age, married/single and a
resident of Vallehermosa, Negros Oriental;
2.
That the respondent is AAA SECURITY AGENCY, a corporation duly organized and existing
under and by virtue of Philippines Laws, with principal office at Dumaguete
City, Negros Oriental, Philippines, represented herein by MR. Y,
of legal age, Filipino, married to _____, and a resident of Dumaguete
City, Negros Oriental;
3. That AAA SECURITY AGENCY is corporation engage in providing security services to commercial, institutional and industrial businesses in Negros Oriental. The said business is located at Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental, Philippines, where it may be served with summons and other processes of the Labor Arbiter;
4. That the complainant is alleging under payment minimum wage, nonpayment of 13th Month Pay, Holiday Pay, Overtime Pay, Night Shift Differential, and Service Incentive Leave;
5. That the complainant was an employee of AAA Security Agency and detailed as a security guard in the following business establishment:
January to December 2021 – Prawn farm - P293
per day
January to December 2022 – Prawn farm –
P293 per day
January to July 2023 – Mercury Drug Store
– Bacong - P445 per day
6.
That during his employment in the prawn
farm, he was provided with board and lodging and only worked eight hours a day and in
Mercury Drug Store, he worked from 8am to 12nn and 6pm to 10pm only.
As
proof of his salary, the respondent is attaching the following:
a.
copy of the calculation of his monthly
salary is attached as Annex- A;
b.
copy of the calculation of the benefits of
the employees of Century Security Agency as Annexes- B and B-1, and
c.
copy of the deduction slip as Annex –
C;
Under payment minimum wage
7. Wage as the remuneration or earnings, however designated, capable of being expressed in terms of money, whether fixed or ascertained on a time, task, piece, or commission basis, or other method of calculating the same, which is payable by an employer to an employee under a written or unwritten contract of employment for work done or to be done, or for services rendered or to be rendered and includes the fair and reasonable value, as determined by the Secretary of Labor and Employment, of board, lodging, or other facilities customarily furnished by the employer to the employee (Article 97 (f) of the Labor Code)
With regard to under payment of salary, the respondent is a providing for the board and lodging for the complaint which is a valid deduction for his salary during his stay in the prawn farm from January 2021 to December 2022.
Under Article 113 of the Labor Code, no employer, in his own behalf or in behalf of any person, shall make any deduction from the wages of his employees, except for the following cases:
a. In cases where the
worker is insured with his consent by the employer, and the deduction is to
recompense the employer for the amount paid by him as premium on the insurance;
b. For union dues, in cases
where the right of the worker or his union to check-off has been recognized by
the employer or authorized in writing by the individual worker concerned; and
c. In cases where the
employer is authorized by law or regulations issued by the Secretary of Labor
and Employment.
Article 114 of the Labor Code also allows deductions on employee’s
wages in case of loss or damages to tools, materials or equipment supplied by
the employer to the employee where the employer is engaged in trade, occupation
or business where practice of making deductions or requiring deposits is
recognized.
Article 259 (e) of Labor Code also allows deductions
on employee’s wages with regard to payment of agency fees for non-union members
who accept the benefits from the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)
negotiated by the bargaining union.
Also, under the Rules implementing the Labor Code
(IRR of Labor Code), particularly Book 3 on Conditions of Employment, deductions
on wages are allowed if employer received a written authorization from the
employee for payment to a third (3rd) person. This is valid only when the
employer did not receive any pecuniary benefit directly or indirectly from the
transaction (Rule VIII, Book 3, Section 10 (b)
of IRR).
Deductions on wages
based on the value of meals and facilities are also allowed as long as the
acceptance of the employee is voluntarily made (Rule VII-A, Book 3, Section 7).
On other law, under Articles 1706 and 1708 of the New
Civil Code, withholding of wages because of the employee’s
overdue debt to the employer and deductions made pursuant to a court judgment
against the worker for payment of debts incurred for food, clothing, shelter
and medical attendance are allowable deductions.
Facilities are
deductible from wages. Facilities are items of expense necessary for the
laborer's and his family's existence and subsistence so that by express
provision of law they form part of the wage and when furnished by the employer
are deductible therefrom, since if they are not so furnished, the laborer would
spend and pay for them just the same. (SLL Cables vs. NLRC, March 2, 2011)
Due to the fact that
the employer provided boarding and lodging to the employee during his
employment in Prawn Farm, there is a valid deduction.
MONEY CLAIMS
8. In determining the employee’s entitlement to monetary claims, the burden of proof is shifted from the employer or the employee, depending on the monetary claim sought. In claims for payment of salary differential, service incentive leave, holiday pay, and 13th month pay, the burden rests on the employer to prove payment.
This likewise stems from the fact that all pertinent personnel files, payrolls, records, remittances and other similar documents – which show that the differentials, service incentive leave and other claims of workers have been paid – are not in the possession of the worker but are in the custody and control of the employer.
13th month pay:
9. All employers are required to pay their rank and file employees thirteenth-month pay, regardless of the nature of their employment and irrespective of the methods by which their wages are paid, provided they worked for at least one (1) month during a calendar year. The thirteenth-month pay should be given to the employees not later than December 24 of every year.
The thirteenth-month pay shall not be less than one-twelfth (1/12) of the total basic salary earned by an employee in a calendar year.
The "basic salary" of an employee for the purpose of computing the thirteenth-month pay shall include all remunerations or earnings paid by his or her employer for services rendered.
With regard to the issue of 13th month pay, the respondent was able to provide 13month pay for the year 2023 and 2022, as proven by the computation of benefits. Copy of the computation of benefits which is already attached as Annex – B. But for the year 2021, the corporation undertakes to release his 13th month pay upon agreement between the parties or based on the decision of the Honorable Labor Arbiter.
Holiday pay:
10. It is already included in the salary of the employee.
Holiday pay refers to the payment of the regular daily wage for any unworked regular holiday.
Every employee covered by the Holiday Pay Rule is entitled to the minimum wage rate (daily basic wage and COLA). This means that the employee is entitled to at least 100% of his/her minimum wage even if he/she did not report for work, provided he/she is present or is on leave of absence with pay on the work day immediately preceding the holiday.
The respondent stands that the Holiday pay
was already included in the monthly salary of the complainant.
Night
Shift Differential:
11. Night Shift Differential (NSD) refers to the additional compensation of ten percent (10%) of an employee’s regular wage for each hour of work performed between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
It is not applicable in this case, the employee did not work from 10pm – 6pm since January 2021 to December 2023.
Service Incentive Leave:
12. Every employee who has rendered at least one (1) year of service is entitled to Service Incentive Leave (SIL) of five (5) days with pay.
The service incentive leave may be used for sick and vacation leave purposes. The unused service incentive leave is commutable to its money equivalent at the end of the year. In computing, the basis shall be the salary rate at the date of conversion. It is given every end of the year.
In this case, the complainant was already
given the SIL. SIL is designated as Five (5) Incentive pay, which was released
last December 13, 2022 and June 13, 2023. This is proven by the computation of
benefits which is already attached as Annex – B.
13. Overtime pay refers to the additional compensation for work performed beyond eight (8) hours a day.
The burden of proving entitlement to overtime work rests on the employee, as this monetary claim is not incurred in the normal course of business. It is thus incumbent upon the employee to first prove that he actually rendered service in excess of the regular eight working hours a day, and that he in fact worked on holidays and rest days. (Reggie Zonio v. 1st Quantum Leap Security Agency, Inc. and Romulo Par, G.R. No. 224944, May 05, 2021)
In
the case of Paul Santiago v. CF Sharp Crew Management, Inc. (G.R.
No. 1623419, July 10, 2007), the Supreme Court held that there are two
conditions that need to be satisfied before an employee could be entitled to
overtime pay. These are:
a.
rendition
of overtime work; and
b.
submission of sufficient proof that overtime work was actually
performed.
Since the complainant was not able to prove that he is entitled to overtime pay, the respondent is not liable.
14. Finally,
in order to lessen the Court dockets which are
heavily and unjustifiably congested as a result of the indiscriminate filing and to
unduly burden the parties with the processes of the case, the
respondent is willing to make a counter-offer of Twenty thousand pesos
(P20,000) as a full settlement for the grievance
of the complainant.
PRAYER
WHEREOF, PREMISES CONSIDERED, it is
respectfully prayed of this Honorable Office that after due consideration,
judgment be issued ordering the dismissal of the case.
RESPECTFULLY
SUBMITTED.
Dumaguete
City, Philippines, November 8, 2024
ATTY. CCC
Counsel for the Respondent
Roll No. 000
PTR.
No. 000-A 02/07/2024
IBP No.
000 - 02/19/2024
MCLE
No. VII-XXXX until 4/14/2025
Red
Cross Building,
Surban Street, Dumaguete City,
Negros Oriental, Philippines
0917108XXXX1/XXXX@yahoo.com
Copy
Furnished:
ATTY. XXXXXX
PAO
Guihulngan City
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