LABOR LAW QUESTION VI (2014)

Lina has been working as a steward with a Miami, U.S.A.-based

Loyal Cruise Lines for the past 15 years. She was recruited by a local
manning agency, Macapagal Shipping, and was made to sign a 10-month
employment contract everytime she left for Miami. Macapagal Shipping
paid for Lina s round-trip travel expenses from Manila to Miami. Because
of a food poisoning incident which happened during her last cruise
assignment, Lina was not re-hired. Lina claims she has been illegally
terminated and seeks separation pay. If you were the Labor Arbiter handling
the case, how would you decide? (4%)
My Ans:
Yes, she has been illegally terminated and should be awarded
separation pay.
While Lina has been working for for the Cruise Lines for
the past 15 years and signs a 10-month contract for
every engagement does not mean her employer can just
terminate her employment without observing due process.
Whether an employee is regular, probationary, or contractual
the law requires the observance of due process.
A worker s employment is property in the constitutional sense. He
cannot be deprived of his work without due process of law.
Maneja v. NLRC (98)
Due process requirements are two-fold: substantive and the
procedural.
Substantive - dismissal must be for a valid or authorized cause as
provided by law (Articles 279, 281, 282-284, New Labor Code
Procedural - notice and hearing
Salaw v. NLRC (91)
Notice - intended to inform the employee concerned of the
employer's intent to dismiss and the reason for the proposed
dismissal
Hearing - affords the employee an opportunity to answer his
employer's charges against him and accordingly