ESCASINAS versus. SHANGRI-LA’S MACTAN ISLAND RESORT
G.R. Number 178827 : March 4, 2009
Facts of the case:
Registered nurses Jeromie D. Escasinas and Evan Rigor Singco were engaged in 1999 and 1996, respectively, by Dr. Jessica Joyce R. Pepito to work in her clinic at respondent Shangri-la’s Mactan Island Resort in Cebu of which she was a retained physician.
In late 2002, petitioners filed with the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) Regional Arbitration Branch No. VII (NLRC-RAB No. VII) a complaint for regularization, underpayment of wages, non-payment of holiday pay, night shift differential and 13th month pay differential against respondents, claiming that they are regular employees of Shangri-la.
Decision of May 6, 2003, Labor Arbiter Ernesto F. Carreon declared petitioners to be regular employees of Shangri-la. The Arbiter thus ordered Shangri-la to grant them the wages and benefits due them as regular employees from the time their services were engaged.
Shangri-la and respondent doctor appealed to the NLRC. Petitioners appealed too, but only with respect to the non-award to them of some of the benefits they were claiming.
By Decision dated March 31, 2005, the NLRC granted Shangri-la’s and respondent doctor’s appeal and dismissed petitioners’ complaint for lack of merit, it finding that no employer-employee relationship exists between petitioner and Shangri-la. In so deciding, the NLRC held that the Arbiter erred in interpreting Article 157 in relation to Article 280 of the Labor Code.
Petitioners thereupon brought the case to the Court of Appeals which, by Decision of May 22, 2007, affirmed the NLRC Decision that no employer-employee relationship exists between Shangri-la and petitioners. The appellate court concluded that all aspects of the employment of petitioners being under the supervision and control of respondent doctor and since Shangri-la is not principally engaged in the business of providing medical or healthcare services, petitioners could not be regarded as regular employees of Shangri-la.
Issue:
Whether or not employer-employee relationship exists between Shangri-la and petitioners
No, there is no employee-employer relationship exists between Shangri-la and the petitioners, Escasinas and Singco.
Art. 157 does not require the engagement of full-time nurses as regular employees of a company employing not less than 50 workers.
Under ART. 157. Emergency medical and dental services. – It shall be the duty of every employer to furnish his employees in any locality with free medical and dental attendance and facilities.
Under the provision of Article 57, Shangri-la, which employs more than 200 workers, is mandated to “furnish” its employees with the services of a full-time registered nurse, a part-time physician and dentist, and an emergency clinic which means that it should provide or make available such medical and allied services to its employees, not necessarily to hire or employ a service provider.
The term “full-time” in Art. 157 cannot be construed as referring to the type of employment of the person engaged to provide the services, for Article 157 must not be read alongside Art. 280 in order to vest employer-employee relationship on the employer and the person so engaged.
Therefore, the petition should be denied.
Real LexEcon 