AT A GLANCE:
Sexual acts and intimacies between two consenting adults belong, as a principled ideal, to the realm of purely private relations. Whether aroused by lust or inflamed by sincere affection, sexual acts should be carried out at such place, time and circumstance that, by the generally accepted norms of conduct, will not offend public decency nor disturb the generally held or accepted social morals. Under these parameters, sexual acts between two consenting adults do not have a place in the work environment.
On October 5, 2002, while respondents were on the second shift, company security guard Cyrus A. Altiche conducted a routine inspection of the production plant. Upon reaching the “Tool and Die” section, he saw respondents having sexual intercourse on the floor, using a piece of carton as mattress. He immediately informed another security guard, Danilo S. Ogana, who conducted a follow-up inspection. Although respondents had already left the area, Ogana saw Alcon return the carton to where it was kept.
Altiche submitted a written incident report. Respondents were required to explain and claimed that they were merely sleeping in the area. After a formal administrative hearing where the security guards reiterated their accounts, Imasen found respondents guilty of gross misconduct contrary to the existing policies, rules and regulations of the company and terminated their employment.
Respondents filed a complaint for illegal dismissal. The Labor Arbiter dismissed the complaint, finding that respondents were validly dismissed for gross misconduct and that due process was observed. The NLRC affirmed.
The Court of Appeals agreed that respondents committed the act and that due process was observed. However, it ruled that the misconduct was not sufficiently grave to justify dismissal, reduced the penalty to a three-month suspension, ordered reinstatement, and awarded backwages less the period of suspension.
Thus, Imasen then elevated the case to the Supreme Court.
The issue lies whether respondents’ act of engaging in sexual intercourse inside company premises during work hours constitutes serious misconduct that justifies dismissal under Article 282, now Article 296, of the Labor Code.
The Supreme Court granted the petition, reversed the Court of Appeals, and reinstated the NLRC decision sustaining respondents’ dismissal.
Under Article 282(a), serious misconduct by the employee justifies the employer in terminating his or her employment. The Court reiterated that Misconduct is defined as an improper or wrong conduct. It is a transgression of some established and definite rule of action, a forbidden act, a dereliction of duty, willful in character, and implies wrongful intent and not mere error in judgment.
For misconduct or improper behavior to be a just cause for dismissal, the following elements must concur:
- The misconduct must be serious;
- 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
- It must have been performed with wrongful intent.
Dismissal situations (on the ground of serious misconduct) involving sexual acts, particularly sexual intercourse committed by employees inside company premises and during workhours, are not usual violations33 and are not found in abundance under jurisprudence.Applying these standards, the Court held that the Respondents’ infraction amounts to serious misconduct within the terms of Article 282 (now Article296) of the Labor Code justifying their dismissal.
The Court emphasized that although sexual acts and intimacies between two consenting adults belong, as a principled ideal, to the realm of purely private relations. Whether aroused by lust or inflamed by sincere affection, sexual acts should be carried out at such place, time and circumstance that, by the generally accepted norms of conduct, will not offend public decency nor disturb the generally held or accepted social morals. Under these parameters, sexual acts between two consenting adults do not have a place in the work environment.
Indisputably, the Respondents engaged in sexual intercourse inside company premises and during work hours. These circumstances, by themselves, are already punishable misconduct. Added to these considerations, however, is the implication that the respondents did not only disregard company rules but flaunted their disregard in a manner that could reflect adversely on the status of ethics and morality in the company.
Additionally, the Respondents engaged in sexual intercourse in an area where co-employees or other company personnel have ready and available access. The Respondents likewise committed their act at a time when the employees were expected to be and had, in fact, been at their respective posts, and when they themselves were supposed to be, as all other employees had in fact been, working.
Under these factual premises and in the context of the legal parameters discussed, the Supreme Court held that they cannot help but consider the Respondents’ misconduct to be of grave and aggravated character so that the company was justified in imposing the highest penalty available — dismissal.
It further ruled that respondents did not only disregard company rules but flaunted their disregard in a manner that could reflect adversely on the status of ethics and morality in the company.
Balancing the employees’ right to security of tenure against the employer’s management prerogative, the Court held that the employer’s interest in maintaining discipline and a high standard of workplace ethics prevailed.
Accordingly, respondents’ dismissal for serious misconduct was valid.
Case: Imasen Philippine Manufacturing Corporation vs. Ramonchito T. Alcon and Joann S. Papa (G.R. No. 194884 | October 22, 2014)
Related article: The Different Grounds for Termination of Employment
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Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices specializes in business law and labor law consulting. For inquiries regarding legal services, you may reach us at info@alburolaw.com, or dial us at (02)7745-4391/ 09175772207/ 09778050020.
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