4/6/2021
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5. Cases arising from any violation of Article 264 of this Code , including
questions involving the legality of strikes and lockouts; and
6. Except claims for employees compensation, social security , medicare and
maternity benefits, all other claims arising from employer-employee
relations, including those of persons in domestic or house hold service
,involving an amount exceeding five thousand pesos (P5,000.00), whether
accompanied with a claim for reinstatement. (Emphasis supplied)
Based on this provision, it is clear t hat claims for actual, moral, exemplary and other
forms of damages arising from employer-employee relations are under the original and
exclusive jurisdiction of labor arbiters.
While there are cases which hold that the existence of an employer-employee
relationship does not negate the civil jurisdiction of the trial courts,[16] in this particular
case, we find that jurisdiction properly lies with the Labor Arbiter.
Not only are the terms under Article 224, above quoted, clear and unequivocal,
practical considerations bolster the Court's resolve that jurisdiction of the instant case
falls under the labor tribunals and not with the civil courts.
The determination of propriety of petitioner's non-deployment necessarily involves the
interpretation and application of labor laws, which are within the expertise of labor
tribunals. The question of whether respondents are justified in cancelling the
deployment of petitioner requires determination of whether a subsequent advice from
the same medical provider as to the health of petitioner could validly supersede its
initial finding during the required PEME that petitioner is fit to work.
Moreover, if the Court were to make a distinction between the perfection of a contract
of employment and the commencement of an employment relationship on its face, and
so rule that a mere perfected contract would make the jurisdiction of the case fall under
regular courts, the Court will arrive at a dangerous conclusion where domestic
seafarers' only recourse in law in case of breach of contract is to file a complaint for
damages before the Regional Trial Court. In so doing, domestic seafarers would have to
pay filing fees which his overseas counterpart need not comply with in filing a
complaint before the labor arbiters.[17] As a necessary consequence, the domestic
seafarers would need to prove their claim by preponderance of evidence or "evidence
which is of greater weight, or more convincing than that which is offered in opposition
to it," which is greater than what overseas seafarers need to discharge in cases before
labor arbiters, where they only have to prove their claims by substantial evidence or "
hat amount of evidence which a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support
a conclusion."
WHEREFORE, the petition i s GRANTED. The December 11, 2015 Decision and the
March 28 , 2016 Resolution of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. SP. No. 139164 are
REVERSED AND SET ASIDE. The Decision dated October 30, 2014 of the National
Labor Relations Commission is REINSTATED.
https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/65999
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