Case Digest: San Miguel Properties v. Gucaban
G.R. No. 153982: July 18, 2011
SAN MIGUEL PROPERTIES PHILIPPINES, INC., Petitioner, v. GWENDELLYN ROSE S. GUCABAN, Respondent.
PERALTA,J.:
FACTS:
Gwendellyn Rose Gucaban (Gucaban), a licensed civil engineer, was hired by San Miguel Properties Inc. (SMPI) in 1991 as a construction management specialist in 1991. From 1991 until her termination from service in 1998, she was promoted twice, to technical services manager, then to project development manager. In January of 1998 Gucaban was suddenly hounded by management to sign a blank resignation letter as the company was undergoing cost-cutting. When Gucaban refused, she was alienated in work and kept from meetings, given ugly performance reports, before she succumbed to pressure and submitted her resignation to SMPI.
Gucaban filed a case for illegal dismissal against SMPI in the NLRC.
The Labor Arbiter found for SMPI and dismissed the case. On appeal, the NLRC reversed and ordered Gucabanimmediate reinstatement without loss of seniority rights and full backwages. On appeal under Rule 24 of the Rules of Court to the CA, the Court affirmed the decision of the NLRC but reduced the awarded moral and exemplary damages.
ISSUE:
Whether or not Gucaban was illegally dismissed.
HELD:
LABOR LAW: resignation
Gucaban separation from the company was the confluence of the fraudulent representation to her that her office would be declared redundant, coupled with the subsequent alienation which she suffered from the company by reason of her refusal to tender resignation.The element of voluntariness in her resignation is, therefore, missing.
In Nationwide Security and Allied Services, Inc. v. Ronald P. Valderama, the Court held that in illegal dismissal cases, fundamental is the rule that when an employer interposes the defense of resignation, on him necessarily rests the burden to prove that the employee indeed voluntarily resigned.
Petition is DENIED. Gucaban was illegally dismissed.
SAN MIGUEL PROPERTIES PHILIPPINES, INC., Petitioner, v. GWENDELLYN ROSE S. GUCABAN, Respondent.
PERALTA,J.:
FACTS:
Gwendellyn Rose Gucaban (Gucaban), a licensed civil engineer, was hired by San Miguel Properties Inc. (SMPI) in 1991 as a construction management specialist in 1991. From 1991 until her termination from service in 1998, she was promoted twice, to technical services manager, then to project development manager. In January of 1998 Gucaban was suddenly hounded by management to sign a blank resignation letter as the company was undergoing cost-cutting. When Gucaban refused, she was alienated in work and kept from meetings, given ugly performance reports, before she succumbed to pressure and submitted her resignation to SMPI.
Gucaban filed a case for illegal dismissal against SMPI in the NLRC.
The Labor Arbiter found for SMPI and dismissed the case. On appeal, the NLRC reversed and ordered Gucabanimmediate reinstatement without loss of seniority rights and full backwages. On appeal under Rule 24 of the Rules of Court to the CA, the Court affirmed the decision of the NLRC but reduced the awarded moral and exemplary damages.
ISSUE:
Whether or not Gucaban was illegally dismissed.
HELD:
LABOR LAW: resignation
Gucaban separation from the company was the confluence of the fraudulent representation to her that her office would be declared redundant, coupled with the subsequent alienation which she suffered from the company by reason of her refusal to tender resignation.The element of voluntariness in her resignation is, therefore, missing.
In Nationwide Security and Allied Services, Inc. v. Ronald P. Valderama, the Court held that in illegal dismissal cases, fundamental is the rule that when an employer interposes the defense of resignation, on him necessarily rests the burden to prove that the employee indeed voluntarily resigned.
Petition is DENIED. Gucaban was illegally dismissed.
