Labor Law Doctrines (Wenphil, Serrano, Viernes, Agabon, Jaka, Industrial Timber)

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Labor Law is an intricate subject that not only deals with a lot of provisions, laws, and doctrines, it also deals with people whose lives are greatly affected by these laws. Labor Law protects both the employers and employees and sees to it that rights are not violated.

Here are some doctrines on the termination of employment (Source: The Labor Code with Comments and Cases Volume II, 7th Edition by CA Azucena):

Wenphil (1989) - declared the termination valid BUT the employer should pay indemnity for not respecting the employee's right to due process.

Serrano (2000) - modified Wenphil; stiffened the penalty to "full backwages"; The employee, dismissed for a valid reason, remains dismissed, but the employer who disregarded proper procedure, must pay full backwages in addition to the separation pay, if applicable, and indemnity.

Viernes (2003) - imposed both backwages and indemnity.

Agabon (2004) - the termination is valid, the employee remains dismissed, but the employer must pay an indemnity (penalty for not observing due process) heavier than that imposed in Wenphil but lighter than full backwages; fixed the amount to P30,000.00

Jaka (2005) - fine-tunes Agabon; P50,000 nominal damages
1) if the dismissal is based on a just cause under Article 282 but the employer failed to comply with the notice requirement, the santion to be imposed upon him should be tempered  because the dismissal process was, in effect, initiated by an act imputable to the employee;
2) if the dismissal is based on an authorized cause under Article 283 but the employer failed to comply with the notice requirement, the sanction should be stiffer because the dismissal was initiated by the employer's exercise of his management prerogative.

Industrial Timber (2006) - subdivides the authorized causes into: 1) due to losses and 2) not due to losses.
- If the authorized cause that terminates employment arises from losses, the penalty to the employer who disregarded due process may be lighter than if the authorized cause has no relation to losses. (The court in the Industrial Timber case awarded P10,000.00 for each employee instead of P50,000.00)
-The court enumerated other factors to consider in assessing the penalty to the employer, which are:
1) the authorized cause invoked, whether it was a retrenchment  or a closure or cessation of operation of the establishment due to serious business losses or financial reverses or otherwise;
2) the number of employees to be awarded;
3) the capacity of the employers to satisfy the awards, taking into account their prevailing financial status as borne by the records;
4) the employer's grant of other termination benefits in favor of the employees; and
5) whether there was a bona fide attempt to comply with the notice requirements as opposed to giving no notice at all. (Industrial Timber Corp, et al. vs Ababan, et al., GR No. 165418, March 30, 2006)