G.R. No. 191455 - DREAMLAND HOTEL RESORT AND WESTLEY J. PRENTICE, PRESIDENT, VS. STEPHEN B. JOHNSON.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, premises considered, let this case be as it is hereby ordered DISMISSED for lack of merit. All the money claims of the complainant are likewise ordered dismissed for lack of legal basis. SO ORDERED . [7] Dissatisfied, Johnson appealed to the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC). The NLRC rendered its Decision [8] on April 30, 2009, the dispositive portion of which reads: WHEREFORE , the decision appeared from is hereby REVERSED . Respondent Wes[t]ley Prentice and/or Dreamland Resort & Hotel, Inc[.] are hereby ordered to pay [Johnson] the following: Backwages computed at [P]60,000.00 monthly from November 3, 2007 up to the finality of this decision; Separation pay equivalent to one months salary, or [P]60,000.00; Unpaid salaries from August 1, 2007 to November 1, 2007 amounting to a total of [P]172,800.00. SO ORDERED . [9] The NLRC also noted the following: Insofar as the charge of abandonment against [Johnson] is concerned, it is significant that the contention that [Johnson] received a total of [P]172,000.00 from the [petitioners] since July 2007 is not supported by the evidence x x x submitted by the [petitioners]. Except for a promissory note x x x for [P]2,200.00, the pieces of evidence in question do not bear [Johnsons] signature, and do not therefore constitute proof of actual receipt by him of the amounts stated therein. Thus, based on the evidence and on the admission by [Johnson] that he received the amount of [P]5,000.00 from the [petitioners], it appears that [Johnson] received a total of only [P]7,200.00 from the [petitioners]. Since based on the Employment Agreement, his employment commenced on August 1, 2007, it follows that as of November 3, 2007, when he tendered his resignation, the [petitioners] had failed to pay him a total of [P]172,800.00 representing his unpaid salaries for three months ([P]60,000.00 x 3 mos. = [P]180,000.00 [P]7,200 = [P]172,800.00). Even the most reasonable employee would consider quitting his job after working for three months and receiving only an insignificant fraction of his salaries. There was, therefore, not an abandonment of employment nor a resignation in the real sense, but a constructive dismissal, which is defined as an involuntary resignation resorted to when continued employment is rendered impossible, unreasonable or unlikely x x x. Consequently, [Johnson] is entitled to reinstatement with full backwages. However, due to the strained relation between the parties, which renders his reinstatement inadvisable, separation pay may be awarded in lieu of reinstatement. [10] Consequently, the petitioners elevated the NLRC decision to the CA by way of Petition for Certiorari with Prayer for the Issuance of a Temporary Restraining Order and/or Writ of Preliminary Injunction under Rule 47. In the assailed Resolution [11] dated December 14, 2009, the CA dismissed the petition for lack of proof of authority and affidavit of service of filing as required by Section 13 of the 1997 Rules