This case has been cited 2 times or more.
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2008-03-14 |
CHICO-NAZARIO, J. |
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| Hence, while it is true that the petitioner was the indirect employer of the complainants, it cannot be held liable in the same way as the employer in every respect. The petitioner may be considered an indirect employer only for purposes of unpaid wages. As this Court succinctly explained in Philippine Airlines, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Commission[37]:While USSI is an independent contractor under the security service agreement and PAL may be considered an indirect employer, that status did not make PAL the employer of the security guards in every respect. As correctly posited by the Office of the Solicitor General, PAL may be considered an indirect employer only for purposes of unpaid wages since Article 106, which is applicable to the situation contemplated in Section 107, speaks of wages. The concept of indirect employer only relates or refers to the liability for unpaid wages. Read together, Articles 106 and 109 simply mean that the party with whom an independent contractor deals is solidarily liable with the latter for unpaid wages, and only to that extent and for that purpose that the latter is considered a direct employer. The term "wage" is defined in Article 97(f) of the Labor Code as "the remuneration of earnings, however designated, capable of being expressed in terms of money, whether fixed or ascertained on a time, task, piece, or commission basis, or other method of calculating the unwritten contract of employment for work done or to be done, or for services rendered or to be rendered and includes the fair and reasonable value, as determined by the Secretary of Labor, of board, lodging, or other facilities customarily furnished by the employer to the employee." Further, there is no question that private respondents are operating as an independent contractor and that the complainants were their employees. There was no employer-employee relationship that existed between the petitioner and the complainants and, thus, the former could not have dismissed the latter from employment. Only private respondents, as the complainants' employer, can terminate their services, and should it be done illegally, be held liable therefor. The only instance when the principal can also be held liable with the independent contractor or subcontractor for the backwages and separation pay of the latter's employees is when there is proof that the principal conspired with the independent contractor or subcontractor in the illegal dismissal of the employees, thus: | |||||
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2005-06-08 |
CHICO-NAZARIO, J. |
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| Philippine Airlines, Inc. v. National Labor Relations Commission[9] provides the legal yardstick in addressing this issue. In that case, Unicorn Security Services, Inc. (USSI) and Philippine Airlines, Inc. (PAL) executed a security service agreement where USSI was designated therein as the contractor. In determining which between PAL and USSI is the employer of the security guards, we considered the following factors in considering the existence of an employer-employee relationship: (1) the selection and engagement of the employee; (2) the payment of wages; (3) the power to dismiss; and (4) the power to control the employee's conduct. Considering these elements, we held in the said case that the security guards of PAL were the employees of the security agency, not PAL. We explained why- | |||||