SC orders GMA Network to reinstall 30 cameramen

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court ordered GMA Network, Inc. (GMA) to reinstate 30 cameramen and camera assistants and pay their back wages, allowances and other benefits from the time of their illegal dismissal in 2013 to the time of their current reinstatement.

In a decision promulgated on July 13 but made public on Tuesday, the Superior Court’s Third Division through Associate Judge Marvic Leonen said that in addition to back wages, allowances and benefits, illegally fired employees should also receive a payment for attorneys’ fees equal to 10 percent of the total monetary award earned by each of them.

The superior court said that the amounts owed to each petitioner will accrue legal interest at a rate of six percent per year, which will be computed from the final date of the court’s decision until full payment.

The case is then sent to the Labor Arbitrator for the calculation of the monetary compensation.

The employees were hired between 2005 and 2011, but all were laid off in May 2013.

The petitioners, the dismissed employees, maintained that they were regular employees because they had performed functions that were necessary and desirable for GMA’s regular business as a television and broadcasting company.

In this case, the superior court said that “it was not at all established that the employees, who were paid a meager salary ranging from P750 to P1500 per recording, were hired because of their unique skills, talents and celebrity status that they did not have the ordinary employees. He stressed that to be considered independent contractors and not employees, as stated by the media network, it must be shown that the petitioners were hired for their unique skills and talents and that GMA did not exercise control over the means and methods of their work. “

“In this case, GMA provided the equipment used during the recordings and assigned supervisors to monitor the petitioners’ performance and ensure their compliance with the company’s protocols and standards,” the higher court said.

The superior court further noted that “only casual employees performing work that is neither necessary nor desirable for the employer’s usual business and trade are required to serve at least one year of service to achieve regular status. However, employees who perform functions that are necessary and desirable for the employer’s regular business and trade obtain regular status from the time of hire. “

Article 295 of the Labor Code identifies four categories of employees, namely: 1) regular; 2) project; 3) seasonal; and 4) temporary employees. Article 294 of the same establishes security of tenure by establishing that “In cases of regular employment, the employer may not terminate the services of an employee except for just cause or when authorized.”

“In this case, GMA repeated the petitioners engaged as camera operators for their television programs. As such, the petitioners carried out activities that are within the regular and customary business of GMA and not identifiably distinct or separate from the other companies in the media network, ”the higher court said.

The Court added that it would be absurd to consider the nature of the petitioners’ work of operating cameras as something distinct or separate from the business of GMA, a broadcasting company that produces, records and transmits television programs.

The higher court further stated that it “may not allow the GMA to hire and rehire workers solely on the basis of their liking, disposing of them when, in its opinion, they are deprived of prior utility and in order to circumvent their right to employment. security of tenure. “

The petitioners, the higher court said, “can only be fired for just or authorized cause, and after due notice and hearing.”

INQUIRER.net attempted to contact the GMA Network for a statement, but has not yet responded as of press time. [ac]

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