CALAMBA MEDICAL CENTER, INC. v.

 NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION, RONALDO

LANZANAS AND MERCEDITHA* LANZANAS
G.R. NO. 176484 : November 25, 2008

FACTS
Calamba Medical Center engaged the services of medical doctors-spouses Ronaldo Lanzanas and Merceditha
Lanzanas as part of its team of resident physicians.

Reporting at the hospital twice-a-week on twenty-four-hour shifts, respondents were paid a monthly "retainer" of
P4,800.00 each.

The work schedules of the members of the team of resident physicians were fixed by medical director Dr. Raul
Desipeda.

Dr. Meluz Trinidad, a resident physician at the hospital, overheard a telephone conversation of Dr. Lanzanas with a
fellow employee, Diosdado Miscala as regards the low census or admission in the hospital.

Dr. Desipeda issued to Dr. Lanzanas a Memorandum stating that he has have committed acts inimical to the interest
of the hospital. He was placed under 30-days preventive suspension.

Petitioner did not give respondent Dr. Merceditha work schedule after sending her husband Dr. Lanzanas the
memorandum.

The rank-and-file employees union of petitioner went on strike due to unresolved grievances. Dr. Lanzanas filed a
complaint for illegal suspension before the NLRC. Dr. Merceditha subsequently filed a complaint for illegal
dismissal.

DOLE certified the labor dispute to the NLRC for compulsory arbitration and issued return-to-work Order.

Petitioner sent Dr. Lanzanas a notice of termination, indicating as grounds his failure to report back to work
despite the DOLE order and his role in the striking union and for unlawfully participating in it despite
knowledge that his position in the hospital is managerial in nature.

Dr. Lanzanas thus amended his original complaint to include illegal dismissal.

CMC argues that there is no employer-employee relationship between petitioner and the spouses-respondents
because of the twice-a-week reporting arrangement with respondents.

The Labor Arbiter dismissed the complaint. It was reversed by NLRC and affirmed by CA, declaring that there was
employer-employee relationship and respondents were illegally dismissed.

ISSUES
(1) Whether or not there is an employer-employee relationship
(2) Whether or not Dr. Lanzanas is a managerial employee

RULING
(1) Yes. Under the "control test (supervision)," an employment relationship exists between a physician and a
hospital if the hospital controls both the means and the details of the process by which the physician is to
accomplish his task.

Respondents maintained specific work-schedules, as determined by petitioner through its medical director, which
consisted of 24-hour shifts totaling forty-eight hours each week and which were strictly to be observed under pain of
administrative sanctions.

Petitioner exercised control over respondents gains light from the fact that in the emergency room, the operating
room, or any department, respondents' work is monitored through its nursing supervisors, charge nurses and
orderlies. Without the approval or consent of petitioner or its medical director, no operations can be undertaken in
those areas. For
control test to apply, it is not essential for the employer to actually supervise the performance of duties of the
employee, it being enough that it has the right to wield the power.

With respect to respondents' sharing in some hospital fees, this scheme does not sever the employment tie between
them and petitioner as this merely mirrors additional form or another form of compensation or incentive.

More importantly, petitioner itself provided proof of employment status, the identification cards it issued them, the
payslips and BIR W-2 Forms which reflect their status as employees, and the classification as "salary" of their
remuneration. Moreover, it enrolled respondents in the SSS and Medicare (Philhealth) program.

Petitioner failed to observe the two requirements before dismissal can be effected ─ notice and hearing ─ which
constitute essential elements of the statutory process; the first to apprise the employee of the particular acts or
omissions for which his dismissal is sought, and the second to inform the employee of the employer's decision to
dismiss him. Non-observance of these requirements runs afoul of the procedural mandate. Hence, there was an
illegal dismissal.
(2) Dr. Lanzanas was neither a managerial nor supervisory employee but part of the rank-and-file. Their job is
merely routinary in nature and consequently, they cannot be considered supervisory employees. They are not
therefore barred from membership in the union of rank and file.

As for the case of Dr. Merceditha her dismissal was worse, it having been effected without any just or authorized
cause and without observance of due process. petitioner never proferred any valid
cause for her dismissal except its view that "her marriage to [Dr. Lanzanas] has given rise to the presumption that
her sympath[y] [is] with her husband. Mere suspicion or belief, no matter how strong, cannot substitute for factual
findings carefully established through orderly procedure.

Mere membership in a labor union does not ipso facto mean participation in a strike. Participation in a strike
and intransigence to a return-to-work order must, however, be duly proved in order to justify immediate dismissal in
a "national interest" case.