HILARIO RADA, vs. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION (Second Division) and PHILNOR CONSULTANTS AND PLANNERS, INC..
- G.R. Number: G.R. No. 96078
- Promulgated: 1992-01-09
- Ponente: Regalado, J.
Doctrine
Project employees are those whose employment is fixed for a specific project or undertaking and coterminous with its completion or termination (section 281, Labor Code).
Time spent performing tasks adopted primarily for the employer's benefit (here, transporting employees to prevent tardiness) is compensable and may give rise to overtime pay when indispensable and mandatory.
Facts
Petitioner Rada filed a special civil action for certiorari to annul the NLRC decision of 19 November 1990 which reversed the labor arbiter who ordered reinstatement with backwages and awarded overtime pay.
The labor arbiter had ordered reinstatement with full backwages and directed payment of overtime for three excess hours worked from January 1983 to December 1985.
The Court found petitioner to be a project employee whose employment was coterminous with the project under section 281 of the Labor Code.
Petitioner, a project driver, picked up and dropped off fellow employees at designated EDSA points; the employer adopted this transport arrangement to prevent tardiness and its effect on project efficiency.
Issues
Whether the petition to annul the NLRC decision is meritorious.
Whether petitioner is a project employee whose employment is coterminous with the project.
Whether petitioner is entitled to overtime compensation for transporting employees to and from the project site.
Ruling
The petition is devoid of merit; the Court AFFIRMS the NLRC decision in all respects except it modifies the award of overtime pay as stated.
The Court held that petitioner was a project employee as defined in section 281 of the Labor Code.
The Court held petitioner is entitled to overtime pay because the transportation of employees was adopted primarily for the employer's benefit and the duty was indispensable and mandatory for the driver.
Keywords
G.R. No. 96078, special civil action for certiorari, National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC), reinstatement with backwages, overtime pay, Contract of Employment for a Definite Period, project employee, illegally dismissed, regular employee, security of tenure, Article 278(c) Labor Code, Article 280 Labor Code, Policy Instructions No. 20, Release, Waiver and Quitclaim, circumvention of the law, legal doctrines, statutory references, Quiwa v. Philnor Consultants and Planners, Inc., labor arbiter, project