Zosimo Cielo vs. NLRC
Zosimo Cielo vs. NLRC
Zosimo Cielo vs. NLRC
Zosimo Cielo
versus
The Honorable National Labor Relations Commission, Henry Lei And/Or Henry
Lei Trucking
G.R. No. 78693, January 28, 1991
FACTS:
Cielo was a truck driver of Henry Lei Trucking Company (HLTC). They executed
an agreement that the term of his employment is for 6 months. Nine days before the end
of the contract HLTC formally notified Cielo that his service is terminated on the ground
of expiration of contract.
Cielo then filed a complaint at the Ministry of Labor and Employment claiming
that he acquired the status of regular employee since he worked for HLTC for more than
six months.
HLTC rests its case on the agreement and maintains that the labor laws are not
applicable because the relations of the parties are governed by their voluntary
stipulations. The contract having expired, it was the prerogative of the trucking company
to renew it or not as it saw fit.
ISSUE:
Whether or not Cielo is a regular employee of HLTC despite being hired in a fix
period base on the agreement they entered into.
RULING:
LABOR ARBITER:
The Labor Arbiter finds that Cielo was a regular employee of HLTC. The LA
explained that HLTC is engaged in the trucking business as a hauler of cattle, crops and
other cargo for the Philippine Packing Corporation. This business requires the services of
drivers, and continuously because the work is not seasonal, nor is it limited to a single
undertaking or operation. Even if ostensibly hired for a fixed period, Cielo should be
considered a regular employee of the HLTC, conformably to Article 280 of the Labor
Code.
NLRC:
The NLRC reversed the decision of LA and held that Cielo’s employment had
expired under a valid contract.
SUPREME COURT:
The court held that Cielo was a regular employee. The court accepted the factual
finding of the Labor Arbiter that the petitioner was a regular employee of the HLTC.
HLTC is engaged in the trucking business as a hauler of cattle, crops and other cargo for
the Philippine Packing Corporation. This business requires the services of drivers, and
continuously because the work is not seasonal, nor is it limited to a single undertaking or
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operation. Even if ostensibly hired for a fixed period, Cielo should be considered a
regular employee of the HLTC, conformably to Article 280 of the Labor Code providing
as follows:
In Brent School, Inc. vs. Zamora, the Court affirmed the general principle that
"where from the circumstances it is apparent that periods have been imposed to preclude
acquisition of tenurial security by the employee, they should be struck down or
disregarded as contrary to public policy, morals, etc." Such circumstances have been
sufficiently established in the case at bar and justify application of the following
conclusions:
Accordingly, and since the entire purpose behind the development of legislation
culminating in the present Article 280 of the Labor Code clearly appears to have been, as
already observed, to prevent circumvention of the employee's right to be secure in his
tenure, the clause in said article indiscriminately and completely ruling out all written or
oral agreements conflicting with the concept of regular employment as defined therein
should be construed to refer to the substantive evil that the Code itself has singled out:
agreements entered into precisely to circumvent security of tenure.
The agreement in question had such a purpose and so was null and void ab initio.
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