Here are selected November 2011 rulings of the Supreme Court of the Philippines on labor law and procedure:
Award of attorney’s fees; concepts. There are two commonly accepted concepts of attorney’s fees – the ordinary and extraordinary. In its ordinary concept, an attorney’s fee is the reasonable compensation paid to a lawyer by his client for the legal services the former renders; compensation is paid for the cost and/or results of legal services per agreement or as may be assessed. In its extraordinary concept, attorney’s fees are deemed indemnity for damages ordered by the court to be paid by the losing party to the winning party. This is payable not to the lawyer but to the client, unless the client and his lawyer have agreed that the award shall accrue to the lawyer as additional or part of his compensation. Article 111 of the Labor Code, as amended, contemplates the extraordinary concept of attorney’s fees. Although an express finding of facts and law is still necessary to prove the merit of the award, there need not be any showing that the employer acted maliciously or in bad faith when it withheld the wages. Thus the SC concluded that the CA erred in ruling that a finding of the employer’s malice or bad faith in withholding wages must precede an award of attorney’s fees under Article 111 of the Labor Code. To reiterate, a plain showing that the lawful wages were not paid without justification is sufficient. Kaisahan at Kapatiran ng mga Manggagawa at Kawani sa MWC-East Zone Union and Eduardo Borela, etc. vs. Manila Water Company, Inc., G.R. No. 174179. November 16, 2011.
Award of attorney’s fees; Article 111. One of the issues of this case involved the effect of the Memorandum of Agreement provision that attorney’s fees shall be deducted from the amelioration allowance (AA) and CBA receivables. In this regard, the CA held that the additional grant of 10% attorney’s fees by the NLRC violates Article 111 of the Labor Code, considering that the MOA between the parties already ensured the payment of 10% attorney’s fees deductible from the AA and CBA receivables of the Union’s members. In the present case, the Union bound itself to pay 10% attorney’s fees to its counsel under the MOA and also gave up the attorney’s fees awarded to the Union’s members in favor of their counsel. The award by the NLRC cannot be taken to mean an additional grant of attorney’s fees, in violation of the ten percent (10%) limit under Article 111 of the Labor Code since it rests on an entirely different legal obligation than the one contracted under the MOA. Simply stated, the attorney’s fees contracted under the MOA do not refer to the amount of attorney’s fees awarded by the NLRC; the MOA provision on attorney’s fees does not have any bearing at all to the attorney’s fees awarded by the NLRC under Article 111 of the Labor Code. Based on these considerations, it is clear that the CA erred in ruling that the LA’s award of attorney’s fees violated the maximum limit of ten percent (10%) fixed by Article 111 of the Labor Code. Kaisahan at Kapatiran ng mga Manggagawa at Kawani sa MWC-East Zone Union and Eduardo Borela, etc. vs. Manila Water Company, Inc., G.R. No. 174179. November 16, 2011.
LEXOTERICA: A PHILIPPINE BLAWG 