Deployment of an employee
DearPAO, Ia ma security guard detailed to a very important person( VIP ). When the latter died, I was recalled by the security agency AND AFTER THREE MONTHS OF fl O A Ting deployed as a regular security guard. I think that I am more effective as a VIP security guard, so I would like to ask if I could refuse the offer and demand from the security agency that I be deployed to a VIP client? Pleaseguideme.
Borloy
Dear Borloy, There is no exact provision of Presidential Decree 442, otherwise known as the Labor Code of the Philippines, as amended and renumbered, which regulates the temporary lay-off or floating status of an employee. However, Article 301 of the same law may be applied to the time limit for temporary lay-off:
“The bonafide suspension of the operation of a business or undertaking for a period not exceeding six months, or the fulfillment by the employee of a military or civic duty shall not terminate employment. In all such cases, the employer shall reinstate the employee to his former position without loss of seniority rights if he indicates his desire to resume his former work not later than one month from the resumption of operations of his employer or his relief from military or civic duty.”
Thus, your employer may place you under a floating status for a
period not exceeding six months. Your desire to be deployed as a security guard to a VIP is a management prerogative. This was explained in the case of Exocet Security and Allied Services Corp. and Marcelo vs Serrano( GR 198538, Sept. 29, 2014), where the Supreme Court through Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr. stated that:
“To repeat for emphasis, the security guard’s right to security of tenure does not give him a vested right to the position as would deprive the company of its prerogative to change the assignment of, or transfer the security guard to, a station where his services would be most beneficial to the client. Indeed,
an employer has the right to transfer or assign its employees from one office or area of operation to another, or in pursuit of its legitimate business interest, provided there is no demotion in rank or diminution of salary, benefits, and other privileges, and the transfer is not motivated by discrimination or bad faith, or effected as a form of punishment or demotion without sufficient cause.”
Clearly, the right of employer to change the assignment of employees, if the same will not result to demotion in rank, salary, benefits and other privileges and the same is not motivated by discrimination or bad faith, or form of punishment, is a valid exercise of management prerogative. Applying the above- quoted decision in your situation, it is the prerogative of your employer to deploy you to any position or assignment where your services would be beneficial to its client.
We hope that we were able to answer your queries. This advice is based solely on the facts you have narrated and our appreciation of the same. Our opinion may vary when other facts are changed or elaborated.
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