Fighting within company premises

Dear Atty. Maan,

My husband got into a heated argument with his co-employee which escalated to the point where physical contact occurred, specifically shoving. Following the submission of multiple written explanations, my husband was subjected to preventive suspension by his employer. An administrative hearing was held, during which the employer company determined that he had breached its Code of Discipline. He was then terminated by the company. Is there a possibility for my husband’s case to succeed if he decides to file a case against his employer for

wrongful termination? Eunice

Dear Eunice,

Based on the facts you presented, the case of your husband may indeed prosper. My basis for saying so is because your case is similar to the recently decided case of G & S Transport Corp. v Medina, G.R. 243768, 5 September 2022.

The Supreme Court held in that case that: “Jurisprudence dictates that misconduct is generally defined as a transgression of some established and definite rule of action, a forbidden act, a dereliction of duty, willful in character, and implies wrongful intent and not mere error in judgment. Under Article 297 of the Labor Code of the Philippines, an employer may terminate the services of an employee on the ground of serious misconduct committed in connection with or relative to the performance of his duties.”

“In labor cases, misconduct, as a ground for dismissal, must be serious or of such grave and aggravated character and not merely trivial or unimportant. To justify termination on the ground of serious misconduct, the following requisites must concur:

1. The misconduct must be serious;

2. It must relate to the performance of the employee’s duties, showing that the employee has become unfit to continue working for the employer; and

3. It must have been performed with wrongful intent. In the present case, the Court found that none of the requisites for serious misconduct was present. It agreed with the finding of the Court of Appeals that only a petty quarrel involving shoving or slight pushing transpired between Reynaldo and Felix. According to the Supreme Court, the same was nipped in the bud by the intervention of Jose and the security guards on duty. The incident neither caused work stoppage nor posed a threat to the safety of the other employees.

Furthermore, the employer company never established how Reynaldo’s misconduct had adversely affected its business, or how Reynaldo had become unfit to continue working for the company. For the Supreme Court, no just cause supported the termination of Reynaldo’s employment.”

As such, the Court found that Reynaldo did not commit serious misconduct to warrant his dismissal from employment.

Hope this helps. Atty. Mary Antonnette Baudi