ARO v NLRC

FACTS:

1. Several employees, including the P filed a Complaint for illegal dismissal with various money claims and
prayer for damages against BDC in the NLRC.

LABOR ARBITER

1. found PR guilty of illegal dismissal and ordering it to pay its (36) employees with their separation pay
2. Petitioners appealed to NLRC

NLRC

1. affirmed the decision of LA with the modification that PR pay backwages computed from the respective
dates of dismissal until finality of the decision
2. PR MR contending that since it has been found by the LA and affirmed that the employees were project
employees, the computation of backwages should be limited to the date of the completion of the
project and not to the finality of the decision.
3. NLRC Denied MR ruling that PR failed to establish the date of the completion of the project.
4. PR – Certiorari with CA

CA

1. Denied PR’s MR
2. PR then filed Certiorari with which was denied for having been filed out of time and for non-payment of
docket and other lawful fees

ISSUE: Whether or not petitioners are regular employees.

HELD | ANSWER: NO

LAW: Accdg to JP, factual findings of administrative or quasi-judicial bodies, which are deemed to have acquired
expertise in matters within their respective jurisdictions, are generally accorded not only respect but even finality,
and bind the Court when supported by substantial evidence. The Court may take cognizance of and resolve
factual issues, only when the findings of fact and conclusions of law of the Labor Arbiter or the NLRC are
inconsistent with those of the CA

APPLICATION:

1. According to the CA, petitioners are project employees as found by LA, because they were hired for the
construction of the Cordova Reef Village Resort in Cordova which the NLRC affirmed.
2. NLRC said that petitioners are entitled to backwages up to the finality of its decision, when as project
employees, PRs are only entitled to payment of backwages until the date of the completion of the project.
3. PR MR, NLRC ruled that petitioners were regular employees and, therefore, entitled to full backwages,
until finality of the decision, because petitioners were rehired over a long span of time made them regular
employees.
4. Being project employees, petitioners are only entitled to full backwages, computed from the date of the
termination of their employment until the actual completion of the work.
5. Illegally dismissed workers are entitled to the payment of their salaries corresponding to the unexpired
portion of their employment where the employment is for a definite period.
6. In this case, the Cordova Reef Village Resort project had been completed in October 1996 and PR herein
had signified its willingness, to set the date of completion of the project as March 18, 1997; hence, the latter
date should be considered as the date of completion of the project for purposes of computing the full
backwages of petitioners.

CONCLUSION: Hence, Petitioners are not Regular Employess but Project Employees