BUSINESSDAY INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND SERVICES, INC., AND RAUL LOCSIN, vs. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION, NEMESIO MOYA ALFREDO AMANTE, EDWIN BERSAMINA, SAMUEL CUELA, ROMEO DELA CRUZ, MANUEL DE JESUS, SEVERINO DELA CRUZ, DANILO ESPIRITU, ANGEL FLORES, DANILO FRANCISCO, FLORENCIO GLORIOSO, GERARDO…
- G.R. Number: G.R. No. 103575
- Promulgated: 1993-04-05
Doctrine
Management prerogatives are subject to legal limits, collective bargaining agreements, and principles of fair play; they cannot be used to justify discriminatory treatment among employees.
Granting a bonus is a management prerogative, not an obligation; payment depends on the employer's financial capability and circumstances such as nonemployment before the bonus period.
A corporate officer is not personally liable for discharged employees' money claims unless he acted with evident malice and bad faith.
Facts
Petitioners are Businessday Information Systems and Services, Inc., and Raul Locsin; respondents are a group of discharged employees who sought claims before the NLRC and higher courts.
The private respondents were paid unequal separation benefits, which the Court found to be impermissible discrimination.
Petitioners refused to pay a mid-year bonus because the company was moribund and the employees were discharged in May 1988, before mid-year.
Petitioner Raul Locsin was sued personally; the Court considered whether a corporate officer may be held personally liable for employees' money claims.
Issues
Whether the unequal payment of separation benefits constituted impermissible discrimination requiring correction.
Whether the private respondents were entitled to a mid-year bonus despite the company's moribund condition and their May 1988 discharge.
Whether corporate officer Raul Locsin may be held personally and solidarily liable for the money claims of discharged employees absent bad faith or evident malice.
Ruling
The NLRC resolution ordering the company to pay separation-pay differentials to the private respondents is affirmed; the discrimination in separation benefits was impermissible.
The award of mid-year bonus is deleted and set aside because bonus is a management prerogative and the company was moribund while respondents were discharged before mid-year.
Petitioner Raul Locsin is absolved from any personal liability to the respondent employees as there is no evidence he acted with bad faith or evident malice.
Keywords
G.R. No. 103575, retrenchment to prevent losses, closure of business operations, separation benefits, equal treatment of employees, management prerogatives, Article 283 of the Labor Code, as amended, corporate officer personal liability, malice and bad faith, Garcia vs. NLRC, 153 SCRA 640, grant of bonus, Traders Royal Bank vs. NLRC, 189 SCRA 274, separation pay differentials, mid-year bonus, financial reverses, releases and quitclaims, unlawful discrimination, closure, every year, employer