Affirming the State’s promise to protect Filipino workers here and abroad, the Court ruled that it is illegal to fire an employee solely for testing positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
In a Decision penned by Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin S. Caguioa, the Supreme Court’s Third Division found AAA’s dismissal as an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) invalid for being discriminatory.
In October 2017, AAA was deployed to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Saudi Arabia) as a cleaning laborer under a two-year contract through the recruitment agency Bison Management Corporation (Bison).
In January 2019, after working for 15 months, AAA underwent a routine medical exam and was found positive for HIV. This prompted AAA’s foreign employer to terminate his employment, citing Saudi Arabian laws that consider an HIV-positive individual unfit to work. AAA was thus repatriated to the Philippines in February 2019.
AAA filed a complaint for illegal dismissal, which was dismissed by the Labor Arbiter.
The National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) reversed the Labor Arbiter and found Bison, its president, and its foreign recruitment agency Saraja Al Jazirah Contracting Est, liable for illegal dismissal.
The NLRC was affirmed by the Court of Appeals, prompting Bison to go to the Supreme Court.
The Court ruled that AAA was illegally dismissed and thus entitled to salaries for the unexpired portion of his employment contract and moral and exemplary damages, among others.
Under Section 49(a) of Republic Act No. (RA) 11166, or the Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act, it is unlawful for employees to be terminated from work on the sole basis of their HIV status.
Since Philippine law prohibits the use of a person’s HIV-positive condition as a ground for dismissal, there was no valid cause to terminate AAA.
Further, if the foreign law stated in the employment contract contradicts Philippine law, morals, good customs, public order, or public policy, then Philippine law shall apply.
In this case, even if it is proven that Saudi Arabian law prohibits workers who test positive for HIV, RA 11166 takes precedence over it for being against Philippine law. (Courtesy of the Supreme Court Public Information Office)
FULL TEXT of G.R. No. 256540, Bison Management Corporation v. AAA and Pernito (February 14, 2024), at: https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/256540-bison-management-corporation-versus-aaa-and-dale-p-pernito/