Pal VS NLRC

PHILIPPINE AIRLINES, INC vs NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION
GR 114307
July 8, 1998
FACTS
1. Private respondent Edilberto Castro was hired as manifesting clerk by petitioner.
2. On March 12, 1984, respondent, together with co-employee Arnaldo Olfindo,
were apprehended by government authorities while about to board a flight en
route to Hongkong in possession of P39, 850.00 and P6, 000.00 respectively, in
violation of Central Bank (CB) Circular 265, as amended by CB Circular 383.
3. When informed of the incident, PAL required respondent to explain within 24
hours why he should not be charged administratively.
4. Upon failure of the latter to submit his explanation thereto, he was placed on
preventive suspension effective March 27, 1984 for grave misconduct.
5. Respondent, through PALEA, sought not only the dismissal of his case but
likewise prayed for his reinstatement, to which appeal, PAL failed to make a reply
thereto.
6. Three years and six months after his suspension, PAL issued a resolution finding
respondent guilty of the offense charged but nonetheless reinstated the latter
explaining that the period within which he was out of work shall serve as his
penalty for suspension.
7. Upon his reinstatement, respondent filed a claim against PAL for back wages
and salary increases granted under the CBA covering the period of his
suspension which the latter, however, denied on account that under the existing
CBA, an employee under suspension is not entitled to the CBA salary increases
granted during the period covered by his penalty.
8. Judgment is rendered limiting the suspension imposed upon the complainant to
one month, and the respondent to pay complainant his salaries, benefits, and
other privileges from April 26, 1984 up to September 18, 1987 and to grant
complainant his salary increases accruing during the period aforesaid.
ISSUE
Whether or not an employee who has been preventively suspended beyond the
maximum 30-day period is entitled to back wages and salary increases granted
under the CBA during his period of suspension
HELD
Preventive suspension is a disciplinary measure for the protection of the
companys property pending investigation of any alleged malfeasance or misfeasance
committed by the employee.
Sections 3 and 4, Rule XIV of the Omnibus Rules Implementing the Labor Code
respectively provides that the employer may place the worker concerned under
preventive suspension if his continued employment poses a serious and imminent
threat to the life or property of the employer or of his co-workers, and that no preventive
suspension shall last longer than 30 days. The employer shall thereafter reinstate the
worker in his former or in a substantially equivalent position or the employer may extend
the period of suspension provided that during the period of extension, he pays the
wages and other benefits due to the workers. It is undisputed that the period of
suspension of respondent lasted for three (3) years and six months.
PAL, therefore, committed a serious transgression when it manifestly delayed the
determination of respondents culpability in the offense charged. PAL stated lamely in its
petition that due to numerous administrative cases pending at that time, the Committee
inadvertently failed to submit its recommendation to management.
The rules clearly provide that a preventive suspension shall not exceed a
maximum period of 30 days, after which period, the employee must be reinstated to his
former position. If the suspension is otherwise extended, the employee shall be entitled
to his salaries and other benefits that may accrue to him during the period of such
suspension. The provisions of the rules are explicit and direct; hence, there is no reason
to further elaborate on the same.
PAL faults the Labor Arbiter and the NLRC for allegedly equating preventive
suspension as remedial measure with suspension as penalty for administrative
offenses. A distinction between the two measures was clearly elucidated by the Court
in the case of Beja Sr. v. CA. Imposed during the pendency of an administrative
investigation, preventive suspension is not a penalty in itself. It is merely a measure of
precaution so that the employee who is charged may be separated, for obvious
reasons, from the scene of his alleged misfeasance while the same is being
investigated. While the former may be imposed on a respondent during the
investigation of the charges against him, the latter is the penalty which may only be
meted upon him at the termination of the investigation or the final disposition of the
case.
The petition is dismissed.

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PHILIPPINE AIRLINES, INC vs NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION

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