3D Pre-Color Plastic, Inc., (3D) in Taiwan, Republic of China, under a uniformlyworded employment contract for a period of two years. Herein private respondent
Elizabeth Alañon is the president of Join International Corporation.
Sometime in September 1999, petitioners filed with private respondents
applications for employment abroad. They submitted their passports, NBI
clearances, medical clearances and other requirements and each paid a placement
fee of P14,850, evidenced by official receipts[2] issued by private respondents.
After their papers were processed, petitioners claimed they signed a
uniformly-worded employment contract[3] with private respondents which
stipulated that they were to work as machine operators with a monthly salary of
NT$15,840.00, exclusive of overtime, for a period of two years.
On December 9, 1999, with 18 other contract workers they left
for Taiwan. Upon arriving at the job site, a factory owned by 3D, they were made
to sign another contract which stated that their salary was only NT$11,840.00.
[4]
They were likewise informed that the dormitory which would serve as their
living quarters was still under construction. They were requested to temporarily
bear with the inconvenience but were assured that their dormitory would be
completed in a short time.[5]
Petitioners alleged that they were brought to a “small room with a cement
floor so dirty and smelling with foul odor (sic)”. Forty women were jampacked in
the room and each person was given a pillow. Since the ladies’ comfort room was
out of order, they had to ask permission to use the men’s comfort room.
[6]
Petitioners claim they were made to work twelve hours a day, from8:00
p.m. to 8:00 a.m.
The petitioners averred that on December 16, 1999, due to unbearable
working conditions, they were constrained to inform management that they were
leaving. They booked a flight home, at their own expense. Before they left, they
were made to sign a written waiver.[7] In addition, petitioners were not paid any
salary for work rendered on December 11-15, 1999.[8]