SECOND DIVISION
[G.R. No. 230942. November 29, 2017.]
ST. LOUIS ANNE COLLEGE/DRA. THELMA DE LEON, petitioner,vs. DR. EVA B. SOLIS, respondent.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, Second Division, issued a Resolution dated29 November 2017which reads as follows: HEITAD
"G.R. No. 230942 (St. Louis Anne College/Dra. Thelma De Leon v. Dr. Eva B. Solis)
After a judicious study of the case, the Court resolves to DENY the instant petition and AFFIRM with MODIFICATION the March 23, 2017 Decision 1 of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. SP No. 136678 for failure of petitioners St. Louis Anne College/Dra. Thelma De Leon (petitioners) to sufficiently show that the CA committed any reversible error in holding that respondent Dr. Eva B. Solis (respondent) was illegally terminated from work.
As correctly ruled by the CA, petitioners failed to prove their claim of abandonment against respondent, considering that: (a) she was still paid her salary for March 16-30, 2013 on May 28, 2013; and (b) her act of immediately filing the instant complaint clearly demonstrated her desire to return to work. It is settled that, to constitute abandonment, the two (2) elements must concur: (a) failure to report for work or absence without valid or justifiable reason; and (b) a clear intention to sever the employer-employee relationship, 2 both of which do not obtain in this case. As such, respondent — who was ordered by petitioners to move out of her office before March 20, 2013 and given her last salary — is considered to have been dismissed from employment, which dismissal was, however, shown to be illegal, as properly held by the CA. However, in light of prevailing jurisprudence, 3 the Court deems it proper to modify the CA's Decision ordering the remand of the case to the Labor Arbiter for the recomputation of the award of full backwages and separation pay, as the same should be counted from the time of respondent's illegal dismissal up to the finality of the Court's Resolution and not the CA's.
SO ORDERED."
Very truly yours,
MA. LOURDES C. PERFECTODivision Clerk of Court
By:
(SGD.) TERESITA AQUINO TUAZONDeputy Division Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1.Rollo, pp. 31-43. Penned by Associate Justice Ramon M. Bato, Jr. with Associate Justices Manuel M. Barrios and Renato C. Francisco concurring.
2. See Claudia's Kitchen, Inc. v. Tanguin, G.R. No. 221096, June 28, 2017.
3. See C.I.C.M Mission Seminaries v. Perez, G.R. No. 220506, January 18, 2017.