THE Supreme Court (SC) has upheld the dismissal of a former general manager of a steam engineering company, rejecting claims of illegal dismissal put forward by a former general manager.
In a resolution dated Feb. 1 and made public on Aug. 2, the tribunal ruled that the dismissal of Ronaldo S. Mina was valid, after he established a new company and operated it within Steam System Philippines, Inc., (SSPI) without permission from the company’s board of directors.
“We have repeatedly recognized that employers cannot be compelled to retain employees who are guilty of acts inimical to its interests,” according to this ruling.
“It bears stressing that Mina was not sufficiently authorized to establish Ainam Philippines, Inc. (API).”
The High Court upheld a Court of Appeals finding that Mr. Mina’s dismissal was legal and valid.
Under the Labor Code, employee dismissals are valid in the event of fraud or deliberate breach of the employer’s trust.
Employees in managerial roles are considered to be in positions of trust and confidence.
The company imports, markets, and distributes steam engineering products. It was also the exclusive distributor of Spirax Sarco Private Limited (Spirax) products in the Philippines.
Mr. Mina assumed the role of GM after Charles Moody, one of the company’s founders, had to leave for the UK in 2002 to receive treatment for bone cancer.
Two years later, he formed API with the goal of developing and exploring a market for alternative stream products outside of Spirax.
In 2005, Mr. Moody died and left instructions that Mr. Mina was to be his successor, and left his shares to him and other employees.
Mr. Mina claimed that Mr. Moody’s ex-wife and SSPI co-founder, Lilibeth Moody, had been trying to oust him from the company ever since he took over.
That same year, the company suspended Mr. Mina over the risk posed by API to the exclusive distributorship deal with Spirax.
The labor arbiter sided with Mr. Mina in his illegal dismissal claim and ordered Steam System to pay him back wages and interest.
The National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) overturned the ruling saying Mr. Mina’s creation of a new company was an “act of disloyalty and serious misconduct befitting loss of trust and confidence.”
The CA affirmed the NLRC’s findings since Mr. Mina failed to show the tribunal that his actions had been approved by the board or Mr. Moody, the late company founder.
“Mina failed to appreciate the significant consequences that could have arisen from SSPI’s violation of its exclusive distributorship agreement with Spirax,” the High Court said. — John Victor D. Ordoñez
