MODULE

#10
MODULE G ALS FLEX Course Material

Employee Relations
plate by NUCCIT
Employee Relations Management
What is Employee Relations Management?
• Effective Employee relations management focuses on the handling of
the employers towards the welfare and needs of individual employees
instead of collective bargaining of the labor force

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Employee Relations Management
The important aspects of the employer-employee relationship
1. Grievance handling
2. Discipline
3. Termination
4. Sexual harassment

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Employee Relations Management
The important aspects of the employer-employee relationship
1. Grievance handling
• What is grievance?
• When a dispute or controversy arises over
a) The implementation or interpretation of a collective bargaining agreement
b) The implementation or enforcement of company personnel policies
• There is a claim by either the employer or the employee/union that the other party violates
any provision of the collective bargaining agreement or company personnel policies and
invokes the grievance machinery provision for the adjustment or resolution of such dispute or
controversy
• A complaint that has been ignored, overridden, or dropped without due consideration

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Employee Relations Management
The important aspects of the employer-employee relationship
1. Grievance handling
• Grievance procedure
• Informal
• Autocratic attitude approach
• Human relations approach

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Employee Relations Management
The important aspects of the employer-employee relationship
1. Grievance handling
• Grievance procedure
• Formal
• Private Sector
• Public Sector

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Employee Relations Management
The important aspects of the employer-employee relationship
1. Grievance handling
• Approaches in grievance procedure
1. Period of persuasion, from the first step to the last step immediately prior to arbitration, where labor and
management with the use of arguments and evidence, persuade one another to give in to one’s position
or agree to a compromise
2. Period of arbitration which begins with the act of persuasion has been exhausted and no settlement has
been reached
• Both involved parties must attend or appear in the grievance hearing as part of a party’s duty to
bargain collectively
• Any party who refuses to attend may be charged with unfair labor practice
• The other party may file a request for preventive mediation OR a notice of strike with the National
Conciliation Mediation Board OR file a Unfair Labor Practice charge with the National Labor Relations
Commission BUT NOT simultaneously
• Good faith of parties is critical to the success of the settlement in grievance and certain essential
traits such as good attitude, sound judgment, experience, and training of the individuals involved are
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Employee Relations Management
The important aspects of the employer-employee relationship
1. Grievance handling
• Effective 5-step grievance presentation (p253)
I. Determine
• Is there a genuine grievance?
• Is the grievance justified or not?
• Is there violation of the collective bargaining agreement?
• Is the worker a victim of any unfair labor treatment or action of the company?
• Is the employer responsible for the unfair treatment or action?
II. Study
• Identify and be familiar with the clauses in the collective bargaining agreement as well as the
company personnel policies are related to the subject of the grievance

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Employee Relations Management
The important aspects of the employer-employee relationship
1. Grievance handling
• Effective 5-step grievance presentation
III. Ask questions
• Who is the grievant, one who files the grievance?
• When did the event related to the grievance happen? It can be more than one date in particular
if it is related to back wages
• Where did the event related to the grievance happen?
• Why does the grievant complain and decide to file the complaint?
• What kind of actions should the organization use to resolve the grievance?
IV. Informal assessment of the grievance case
• Informal assessment of the case together with the union if unionized or the HR and legal
practitioners and executives if non-unionized to interpret the key points in the complaints, the
clauses in the contracts i.e. collective bargaining agreement or individual employment contracts,
and what kind of settlements should be chosen
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Employee Relations Management
The important aspects of the employer-employee relationship
1. Grievance handling
• Effective 5-step grievance presentation
V. Study the precedents
• Research the past similar grievance cases and their settlements presented

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Employee Relations Management
The important aspects of the employer-employee relationship
1. Grievance handling
• Voluntary arbitration
• Any unresolved disputes within seven calendar days from the date of its submission will be automatically referred to voluntary arbitration
• Date of grievance is submitted  last step in the grievance machinery
• Pros
• Less confrontational
• Expertise of a specialized tribunal and the savings of time, money, and effort
• Both grievant and organization choose a voluntary arbitrator (VA) from a list of voluntary arbitrators accredited by the National Conciliation and
Mediation Board
• VA chosen based on the parties’ trust in the arbitrator’s fairness and knowledge of the dynamics of labor management relations, including the
applicable law
• VA acts in a quasi-judicial capacity and decisions rendered by VA are within the ambit of judicial review by the Court of Appeals or the Supreme
Court
• VA’s decisions are afforded highest respect and must be accorded a certain measure of finality as long as their findings are supported by
substantial evidence
• VA’s fee shall be taken into account the following factors:
a) Nature of the case
b) Time consumed in hearing the case
c) Professional standing of the VA
d) Parties’ capacity to pay
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Employee Relations Management
The important aspects of the employer-employee relationship
1. Grievance handling
• Voluntary arbitration
• Unless BOTH parties agree not to use VA, it is mandatory for the VA or panel of Vas to render an
award or decision within 20 calendar days from the date of the submission of the dispute to
voluntary arbitration
• Decision or award becomes final and executory after ten calendar days from receipt of the copy
of the award or decision by the parties
• VA or panel of Vas may issue a writ of execution requiring either the sheriff of the National
Labor Relations Commission or regular courts or any public official whom the parties may
designate in the submission agreement to execute the final decision, order, or award
• Failure on the part of the voluntary arbitrator to render a decision, resolution, order or award
within the prescribed period, shall be sufficient ground for the National Conciliation and
Mediation Board to discipline the voluntary arbitrator concerned, upon complaint of one party
and in pursuant to the guidelines issued by the Secretary of Labor and Employment
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Employee Relations Management
The important aspects of the employer-employee relationship
1. Grievance handling
• Alternative Dispute Resolutions (R.A. 9285)
• Arbitration (Arbiter or Arbitrator)
• Is a voluntary dispute resolution process in which one or more arbiters, appointed and
agreed by both parties, resolve a dispute by rendering an award
• Mediation (Mediator)
• Is a voluntary process in which a mediator, selected by the disputing parties, facilitates
communication and negotiation in reaching a mutually satisfactory agreement regarding a
dispute. A mediator remains neutral at all times.
• Conciliation (Conciliator)
• Is used preventively before a dispute arises. It aims for reconciliation and building a
positive relationship

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Employee Relations Management
The important aspects of the employer-employee relationship
2. Discipline
• Its objective is to correct unacceptable behavior or performance instead of punishing or
embarrassing an employee
• Its other usage is to educate the employee in the fundamental standards of behavior and
performance
• Discipline problems can be dealt with through counseling
a) Job counseling on job-related problems
b) Personal counseling on individual non-job related problems
• List of potential causes of discipline problems
i. Problems of job knowledge or intelligence
ii. Emotional and motivational problems
iii. Family and physical problems
iv. Company policies, society and its value, work context or work group problems

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Employee Relations Management
The important aspects of the employer-employee relationship
2. Discipline
• 5-step guidelines for the formulation of the policies, rules, and regulations on discipline
i. Simple choose of words
ii. Draw the line of authority clearly
iii. Reasonable rules
iv. Investigation steps
v. Sanctions

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Employee Relations Management
The important aspects of the employer-employee relationship
2. Discipline
• Progress discipline
• Deal with job-related behavior
• Assist the employee to understand that a performance problem or opportunity for
improvement exists and how to overcome it
• 5-step progressive discipline system
i. Counseling
ii. Verbally reprimand
iii. Verbal warning
iv. Providing an escalating number of days in which the employee is suspended from work
v. End of employment

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Employee Relations Management
The important aspects of the employer-employee relationship
2. Discipline
• Forms of disciplinary action
i. Admonition
ii. Bawl-out
iii. Reprimand
iv. Transfer
v. Demotion
vi. Suspension
vii. Dismissal

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Employee Relations Management
The important aspects of the employer-employee relationship
3. Termination
• No service of the employee shall be terminated except for a just cause or when
authorized by law and after due process
• If illegal termination of the service of the employee is found, employee is entitled to the
reinstatement of the employee without loss of seniority rights and other privileges and
other lost compensations and benefits during the duration of termination

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Employee Relations Management
The important aspects of the employer-employee relationship
3. Termination
• Causes which allow employer to terminate an employee under law
i. Serious misconduct or willful disobedience by the employee in connection with the
employee’s work
ii. Gross and habitual neglect of duties by the employee
iii. Fraud or willful breach of the trust by the employee
iv. Commission of a crime or offense against the person of the employer or any immediate
member of the employee’s family
v. Other causes comparable to the causes mentioned above

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Employee Relations Management
The important aspects of the employer-employee relationship
3. Termination
• Other authorized causes which allow employer to terminate an employee under Labor Code
i. Installation of labor-saving devices
ii. Redundancy
iii. Retrenchment to prevent losses
iv. Cessation of operation of the establishment or undertaking
v. Disease
• Separation pay must be given to the affected employees under the above circumstances
• Situations (i) and (ii) warrant the affected employees to receive at least one-month salary of the
employee or at least one-month salary for every year of service, whichever is higher
• Situations (iii) to (v) warrant the affected employees to receive at least on-month pay or at least one-half
month pay for every year of service, whichever is higher
• A fraction of at least six months shall be considered as one whole year, e.g. 3 years and 8 months will be
considered as 4 years when it comes to separation pay computation

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Employee Relations Management
The important aspects of the employer-employee relationship
3. Termination
• While employer has the right to terminate the employee for the above causes, employee
can also terminate the employment contract under the Labor Code:
i. Serious insult on the honor and person of the employee by the employer
ii. Inhuman and unbearable treatment accorded the employee by the employer
iii. Commission of a crime or offense against the person of the employee by the employer
iv. Other comparable causes to the above situations

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Employee Relations Management
The important aspects of the employer-employee relationship
4. Sexual harassment
• Gender is immaterial in sexual harassment
• Victim does not have to be the person harassed but could be anyone who is affected by
the offensive conduct
• Two forms of sexual harassment:
i. Quid pro quo
ii. Hostile working environment

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Employee Relations Management
The important aspects of the employer-employee relationship
4. Sexual harassment
• Acts considered as sexual harassment
i. When a sexual favor is made as a condition in the hiring or in the employment, re-
employment or continued employment of a person
ii. When a sexual favor is made in exchange for favorable compensations, better terms and
conditions of employment, promotions, and other privileges
iii. When the sexual act results in an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment for the
employee
iv. When the refusal to grant the sexual favor results in limiting, segregating or classifying the
employee which in any way would discriminate, deprive, or diminish employment
opportunities or adversely affect the employee

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