LABOR STANDARDS 2021
FINALS
Atty. Paciano F. Fallar Jr.
SSCR-CoL
Instructions:
1. Write your name ( family name first) and class schedule
2. Do not repeat the questions. Just proceed to write your answers [ e.g. Q2. (a) ].
3. Answer in the manner required ( e. g., not more than 3 sentences).
From Bar Questions.
State your answers in 1-2 sentences only.
Q1. In a scenario like typhoon Ulysses, which categories of employees (excepting
government employees) may be required by the private sector employer to work
overtime when necessary to prevent loss of life or property? What is the legal
basis/reason?
[Link] Garments Inc. makes baby clothes for export. It used to operates on two (2)
shifts of 12 hours every day, from Monday to Saturday. It pays its employees an additional
35% of their regular hourly wage for work rendered in excess of eight (8) hours per day.
Because of additional orders, LKG implemented a 3-shift work schedule of only eight (8)
hours a day. Carding is an employee who used to regularly render four (4) hours of
overtime work before the change in schedule. He complains that the change adversely
affected him because his take home pay has been reduced. Does Carding have a cause
of action against the company?
Q3. Lito was anticipating the bonus he would receive for 2013. Aside from the 13th
month pay, the company has been awarding him and his other co-employees a two
to three months bonus for the last 10 years. However, because of poor over-all
sales performance for the year, the company unilaterally decided to pay only a one-
month bonus in 2013. Is Lito’s employer legally allowed to reduce the bonus?
Q4. After working from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on a Thursday as one of 5,000 employees
in a beer factory, A hurried home to catch the early evening news and have dinner
with his family. At around 10 p.m. of the same day, the plant manager called and
ordered A to fill in for C who missed the second shift. May A be required to render
overtime work, under pain of disciplinary sanction?
[Link] X is owned by L’s family. L is the President. M, L’s wife, occasionally
gives loans to employees of Corporation X. It was customary that loan payment was
paid to M by directly deducting from the employee’s monthly salary. Is this practice
of directly deducting payments of debts from the employee’s wages allowed?
[Link] was a mechanic of Pacific Airlines. He enjoyed a meal break of one hour.
However, during meal breaks, he was required to be on stand-by for emergency
work. During emergencies, he was made to forego his meals or to hurry up eating.
He demanded payment of overtime for work done during his meal periods. Is
Percival correct? Explain your answer.
Q7. The meal time (lunch break) for the dining crew in Glorious Restaurant is either
from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. or from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., with pay. But the
management wants to change the mealtime to 11 a.m. to 12 noon or 12:30 p.m. to
1:30 p.m., without pay. Will the change be legal?
Non-Bar questions
State your answers in 1-2 sentences only.
Q8 Absolon , a student at UP Diliman, was invited by Sleepwell Research Company
to participate in a scientific study which required the subject to sleep in a controlled
environ ment during the hours of 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 pm. He and his fellow students
agreed to join the experiment as the venue was in one of the buildings within UP
campus. The experiment lasted for three (3) months, from February 2017 to April
2017. Absolon was paid a monthly fee of P15,000 for being one of the subjects.
In 2020, Absolon enrolled at the San Sebastian College -Recoletos College of Law.
While studying Labor Standards, he got acquainted with the concept of night
differential. Having failed to qualify as a working scholar, and needing extra money
badly , he wondered whether he should have been entitled to nigh shift differential
for his sleep work while in UP. He decided to file a complaint for night shift differential
with the Labor Arbiter's office in Quezon City on May 2021.
What defense/s may the company put up to resist the claim?
Q 9-10.
Read the attached case of Kondo vs Toyota. [ G.R. No. 201396, 11 September
2019 ]
Draft a critique focusing on the holding that there was no diminution of benefits.
Argue that there was a diminution.
You may consider the following arguments of the SC:
• That the benefit of service vehicle with driver was only given verbally by
the former president. Does this mean the president cannot bind the
corporation?
• That the benefit was only an accommodation by the former president. What is
an "accommodation" and how does it differ from a unconditional unilateral
grant? What is the evidence , testimonial or evidentiary, that this was an
accommodation? Which party has the burden of proof to substantiate this
allegation of accommodation and similar alleged conditions in the grant of the
service car and driver.?
• That the benefit must be given to all similarly-situated employees before it can
be deemed a company practice. Is there a jurisprudence to support this
argument? Does the principle of non-diminution refers only to a group of
employees, and not to a specific individual? Is an individual employee
precluded from claiming diminution, simply because he was the only one
granted the benefit?
• Which party has the burden of proving that other similarly-situated employees
were not granted the same benefit? Which
Make your argument in not more than 5 sentences.
