Backwages due illegally dismissed probationary employees are not limited to the unexpired portion of the probationary period but cover the time when compensation was withheld up to reinstatement.
This was the ruling of the Supreme Court En Banc in a Decision dated April 16, 2024, penned by Associate Justice Antonio T. Kho, Jr., where it ruled that C.P. Reyes Hospital’s termination of probationary employee Geraldine M. Barbosa (Barbosa) was invalid.
In September 2013, Barbosa signed a six-month probationary employment contract with C.P. Reyes Hospital, during which time she would train as a Staff Nurse, then as a Ward Head Nurse, and finally as a Training Supervisor. However, on December 30, 2013, C.P. Reyes Hospital terminated her probationary employment, citing negative performance feedback.
This prompted Barbosa to file a complaint for illegal dismissal against C.P. Reyes Hospital.
The Labor Arbiter ruled that Barbosa was illegally dismissed, finding that the numerical passing marks given by her evaluators showed she successfully met C.P. Reyes Hospital’s standards.
While the NLRC subsequently reversed the Labor Arbiter, the Court of Appeals reinstated the Labor Arbiter’s ruling in favor of Barbosa.
The Supreme Court affirmed this, denying C.P. Reyes Hospital’s petition for review on certiorari, ruling that Barbosa was illegally dismissed; and hence, entitled to backwages.
Probationary employment may be terminated when the employee fails to qualify as a regular employee in accordance with reasonable standards made known by the employer to the employee at the time of engagement.
However, in Barbosa’s case, the Court found her dismissal baseless since she obtained the passing grades needed to meet the standards for regularization based on the probationary employment contract.
On the other hand, the Court found C.P. Reyes Hospital’s claims of unsatisfactory performance ungenuine as they were only issued two weeks after Barbosa had already been terminated and without an accompanying performance evaluation.
As Barbosa was illegally dismissed, she is entitled to reinstatement, full backwages, and other benefits.
To determine the amount of backwages due Barbosa, the Court harmonized conflicting jurisprudence.
The Court clarified that illegally dismissed probationary employees, like regular employees, are entitled to backwages up to their actual reinstatement and not only until the end of their probationary period.
In case reinstatement is not feasible, backwages shall be computed from the time compensation was withheld up to the finality of the Decision in the illegal dismissal case.
The Court held that both the Constitution and the Labor Code did not distinguish between regular and probationary employees in guaranteeing the right to security of tenure.
It added that the mere lapse of the probationary period without regularization does not by itself sever the employment relationship. Without any valid grounds to dismiss a probationary employee, there is no basis to terminate the employment. Thus, the employee is entitled to work even beyond the probationary period.
The Court thus ruled that in Barbosa’s case, backwages should be computed from January 1, 2014, when compensation was withheld from her, until the finality of the Court’s decision.
The Supreme Court Public Information Office will upload a copy of the Decision in G.R. No. 228357 (C.P. Reyes Hospital v. Barbosa) once it receives the same from the Office of the Clerk of Court En Banc. (Courtesy of the Supreme Court Public Information Office)