Limitasyon ng preventive suspension

ni Atty. Persida Rueda-Acosta @Magtanong Kay Attorney | Pebrero 13, 2023

Dear Chief Acosta,

Nakatanggap ako ng notice na nagsasaad na ako ay ilalagay sa ilalim ng “preventive suspension” sa loob ng isa’t kalahating buwan para sa isasagawang imbestigasyon tungkol sa diumano’y complaints laban sa akin. Dagdag pa rito, hindi diumano ako makatatanggap ng sahod sa nasabing panahon. Legal ba itong gawin ng aking employer? –Fey

Dear Fey,

Para sa iyong kaalaman, sa kasong Every Nation Language Institute (ENLI) and Ralph Martin Ligon vs. Maria Minelli Dela Cruz, G.R. No. 225100, 19 February 2020, sa panulat ni Kagalang-galang na dating Associate Justice Jose Reyes, Jr., pinasyahan ng Kagalang-galang na Korte Suprema ang mga sumusunod:

“Placing an employee under preventive suspension is allowed under Section 8, Rule XXIII, Book V of the Omnibus Rules Implementing the Labor Code, as amended. This section provides:

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.

Preventive suspension is not a penalty but a disciplinary measure to protect life or property of the employer or the co-workers pending investigation of any alleged infraction committed by the employee. Thus, it is justified only when the employee's continued employment poses a serious and imminent threat to the employer's or co-workers' life or property. When justified, the preventively suspended employee is not entitled to the payment of his salaries and benefits for the period of suspension.

Nevertheless, the management's prerogative of placing an employee under preventive suspension is further temporally limited. Section 9 of the Omnibus Rules Implementing the Labor Code limits the duration of the preventive suspension to a maximum of 30 days:

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.

Section 9 is clear that the employer had the positive duty of reinstating the preventively suspended employee upon the lapse of the 30-day period sans extension. When the period of preventive suspension exceeds the maximum period allowed without reinstating the employee actually or through payroll, or when the preventive suspension is for an indefinite period, constructive dismissal sets in.

Agcolicol, Jr. v. Casiño cites instances considered as amounting or tantamount to constructive dismissal such as: where the employee’s prolonged suspension was due to the employer’s neglect to conclude the investigation; where the employer’s imposition of preventive suspension pending final investigation was coupled with the employer’s lack of intention to conduct such final investigation; where placing the employee under preventive suspension in excess of the 30-day limit was a predetermined effort to dismiss the latter from service in the guise of preventive suspension; and where the employer failed to recall the employee to work after the expiration of the suspension taken together with the employer's precondition that the employee withdraw the complaints against it.”

Ayon sa nasabing kaso, maaaring ilagay ng employer ang kanyang empleyado sa ilalim ng preventive suspension kung ang kanyang patuloy na pagtatrabaho ay magdudulot ng seryoso at napipintong banta sa buhay o ari-arian ng employer o kanyang mga katrabaho. Gayunman, ang prerogative ng management na ilagay ang isang empleyado sa ilalim ng preventive suspension ay limitado lamang sa 30 araw. Ito ay maaaring pahabain sa kondisyon na sa panahon ng extension, babayaran ang sahod at iba pang benepisyo ng sangkot na empleyado.

Sa iyong sitwasyon, mali ang pagpataw sa iyo ng isa’t kalahating buwan na preventive suspension dahil lampas ito sa 30 araw na limitasyong itinakda ng batas. Bukod pa rito, maaaring ituring na constructive dismissal ang nangyari sa iyo kung maipakikita na ang iyong preventive suspension ay parte ng plano upang matanggal ka sa serbisyo.

Sana ay nabigyan namin ng linaw ang iyong katanungan. Ang payong aming ibinigay ay base lamang sa mga impormasyon na iyong inilahad at maaaring magbago kung mababawasan o madaragdagan ang mga detalye ng iyong salaysay.

Maraming salamat sa inyong patuloy na pagtitiwala.