Pandan 1

CASE NAME: Smart v Solidum

GR Number/ Case Date: GR 197763/ Dec 28, 2015
Ponente: Justice Velasco Jr.
Petitioners: SMART COMMUNICATIONS, INC., MR.
NAPOLEON L. NAZARENO, and MR. RICKY P. ISLA
Respondents: JOSE LENI Z. SOLIDUM
Rule of Law:
Section 8. Preventive suspension. The employer
may place the worker concerned under preventive
suspension only if his continued employment poses a
serious and imminent threat to the life or property of
the employer or of his co-workers.
Section 9. Period of suspension. No preventive
suspension shall last longer than thirty (30) days. The
employer shall thereafter reinstate the worker in his
former or in a substantially equivalent position or the
employer may extend the period of suspension
provided that during the period of extension, he pays
the wages and other benefits due to the worker. In
such case, the worker shall not be bound to reimburse
the amount paid to him during the extension if the
employer decides, after completion of the hearing, to
dismiss the worker.
Doctrine:
Preventive suspension cannot go beyond 30
days for the same offense, but the company can
validly issue another preventive suspension upon
uncovering another offense.
Facts:

April 26, 2004, Solidum was hired by Smart

Communications, Inc. as Department Head of
Smart Prepaid/Buddy Activations under the
Product Marketing Group

September 21, 2005, Solidum was charged with

acts of dishonesty and breach of trust and
confidence, wherein he supposedly created
fictitious marketing events and submitting
fraudulent document to prove that the events
have transpired in the goal of defrauding Smart.
Pending investigation, Solidum will be
suspended for 30 days.
October 21, 2005, Solidum was charged again
with different cases, thus suspending him for
another 20 days
October 28, 2005, after Solidum requested
pertinent documents, he is now declaring that
he shall no longer receive or entertain notices or
memorandum, except the final decision
resolving the administrative charges against
him.
November 11, 2005, Company decided to
dismiss Solidum for breach of trust.
July 3, 2006, Labor Arbiter decided that the
extended suspension without pay was illegal
and that Solidum was unjustly dismissed from
work without observance of procedural due
process. Ordered reinstatement with
backwages.
January 26, 2009, The NLRC reversed the labor
arbiter's decision. It ruled that the seriousness
of Solidum 's infractions justified the additional
period of suspension. It added that the labor
arbiter erred in declaring Solidum' s dismissal
illegal.

Pandan 2

April 4, 2011, CA declared the dismissal not

illegal while the extended suspension is illegal
thus entitling Solidum for backwages.

Issue and Holding:

1. WON the 2nd preventive suspension is illegal.

The 2nd preventive suspension is legal on all
basis, since it is not an extension to penalize the
same offense, rather the suspension is a result of
the discovery of another offense, and as such,
Smart can validly issue another preventive
suspension.
Ruling: This court affirmed the decision of the CA
with modification, that the award of salaries and
benefits that accrued during the period of extended
preventive suspension is deleted.

Note:
Preventive suspension is a disciplinary measure for the
protection of the company's property pending
investigation
of any alleged malfeasance or
misfeasance committed by the employee. The
employer may place the w,orker concerned under
preventive suspension if his continued employment
poses a serious and imminent threat to the life or
property of the employe,r or of his co-workers.
However, when it is determined that there is no
sufficient basis to justify an employee's preventive
suspension, the latter is entitled to the payment of
salaries during the time of preventive suspension.
(emphasis supplied)