FIRST DIVISION
[G.R. No. 249900. June 30, 2021.]
NORTHERN NEGROS ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE [NONECO], petitioner, vs.LOWELL NEQUIN, respondent.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, First Division, issued a Resolution dated June 30, 2021 which reads as follows:
"G.R. No. 249900 (Northern Negros Electric Cooperative [NONECO] v. Lowell Nequin). — Article 297 1 of the Labor Code of the Philippines provides serious misconduct by an employee as one of the grounds for termination of employment. For an employee's termination to be justified on the ground of misconduct, the following requisites must concur:
a) the misconduct must be serious;
b) it must relate to the performance of the employee's duties, showing that the employee has become unfit to continue working for the employer; and
c) it must have been performed with wrongful intent. 2
An employee's misconduct must be of such grave and aggravated character and not merely trivial or unimportant. Furthermore, in order to determine if the employee's misconduct is related to the performance of one's duties, an enquiry should be made on the proximate cause of or the motive behind the act of the employee. 3
Guided by the foregoing, We find that respondent Lowell Nequin (Nequin) is liable for serious misconduct. Nequin's actions in choking and throwing a punch at Jigger Yudelmo is reprehensible and a violation of petitioner Northern Negros Electric Cooperative's (NONECO) Employee Code of Conduct. 4 The act of physical violence inflicted by an employee on another, in this case, a supervisor, is not trivial in character. Clearly, Nequin should be sanctioned for his unlawful conduct. Nonetheless, We find it relevant to consider that the incident in this case is Nequin's first offense in his nine-year service with NONECO. Moreover, it is undisputed that he had no other derogatory record throughout his employment with the company. Inspired by compassion and social justice, We deem it prudent to temper the penalty of dismissal to reinstatement without payment of backwages following the "no work, no pay" principle. Accordingly, the award of separation pay is without basis as We find no illegal dismissal. This Court does not, in any way, condone Nequin's wrongdoing, but urges a moderation of the sanctions that may be applied to him given the presence of attenuating circumstances and following the tenets of social justice embodied in the Constitution. AHDacC
WHEREFORE, the Decision dated October 15, 2018 of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. SP No. 10207 is AFFIRMED with MODIFICATION. Petitioner Northern Negros Electric Cooperative is ORDERED to reinstate respondent Lowell Nequin without loss of seniority rights and without payment of backwages. The award of separation pay in lieu of reinstatement is also DELETED.
SO ORDERED."
By authority of the Court:
(SGD.) LIBRADA C. BUENADivision Clerk of Court
By:
MARIA TERESA B. SIBULODeputy Division Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1. Previously numbered as Article 282 of the Labor Code of the Philippines.
Article 297. [282] Termination by Employer. — An employer may terminate an employment for any of the following causes:
(a) Serious misconduct or willful disobedience by the employee of the lawful orders of his employer or representative in connection with his work;
(b) Gross and habitual neglect by the employee of his duties;
(c) Fraud or willful breach by the employee of the trust reposed in him by his employer or duly authorized representative;
(d) Commission of a crime or offense by the employee against the person of his employer or any immediate member of his family or his duly authorized representatives; and
(e) Other causes analogous to the foregoing.
2.Stanfilco v. Tequillo, G.R. No. 209735, July 17, 2019.
3.Id.
4. Section 6.2.2
a) Assaulting, inflicting or attempting to inflict bodily harm of injury to another person in any form inside the Coop premises or during working time.
Penalty: Reprimand to dismissal depending on the gravity of the offense; rollo, p. 22.