Since time immemorial, it has been clear that the labor sector has a constitutionally guaranteed right, pursuant to Sec. 3 of the 1987 Constitution. It provides for full protection to labor, local and overseas, organized and unorganized, and promotes full employment and equality of employment opportunities for all. It also guarantees the right of the workers to certain activities such as self-organization and collective bargaining, as well as the right to strike. These rights are enjoyed by the labor sector, and, in the same vein, the law favors workers too.
However, does this mean that the employer or the management does not have rights and cannot do anything at all?
The answer is no. An employer, in certain instances and within the bounds of law, may exercise its management prerogative in its employee relations.
The Supreme Court held in St. Luke’s Medical Center, Inc. v. Maria Theresa V. Sanchez (G.R. No. 212054, 11 March 2015), that management prerogative is the right of an employer to regulate all aspects of employment. It gives the employers the freedom to regulate, according to their discretion and best judgment, all aspects of employment, including work assignment, working methods, processes to be followed, working regulations, transfer of employees, work supervision, lay-off of workers and the discipline, dismissal, and recall of workers.
In this light, courts often decline to interfere in legitimate business decisions of employers. In fact, labor laws discourage interference in employers’ judgment concerning the conduct of their businesses.
Among the employer’s management prerogatives is the right to prescribe reasonable rules and regulations necessary or proper for the conduct of its business or concern, to provide certain disciplinary measures to implement said rules and to assure that the same would be complied with. At the same time, the employee has the corollary duty to obey all reasonable rules, orders, and instructions of the employer; and willful or intentional disobedience thereto, as a general rule, justifies termination of the contract of service and the dismissal of the employee.
While the law favors the labor sector, this does not necessarily mean that employers are precluded from managing their businesses, including employees, as they see fit. So long as the exercise of management prerogative does not violate employee’s rights and other prevailing laws, the employer shall not be liable for his acts that are intended to maintain his company.
The employer-employee relationship is one that is of a complex nature and requires both parties to coexist harmoniously. Ultimately, they mutually benefit from such relationship. If disrupted and a case is filed by the employee against the employer, it could take a while before the case gets resolved. As such, to avoid litigation, both parties must observe their obligations to each other and must comply with what is provided under the law.
