JOSE RIZAL COLLEGE, petitioner, vs.
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION AND NATIONAL
ALLIANCE OF TEACHERS/OFFICE WORKERS, respondents
G.R. No. L-65482, December 1, 1987
PARAS, J.
TOPIC
PAYMENT OF HOLIDAY PAY
FACTS
Petitioner is a non-stock, non-profit educational institution duly organized and existing under the laws
of the Philippines.
It has three groups of employees categorized as follows:
1) Personnel on monthly basis, who receive their monthly salary uniformly throughout the year,
irrespective of the actual number of working days in a month without deduction for holidays;
2) Personnel on daily basis who are paid on actual days worked and they receive unworked holiday
pay; and
3) Collegiate faculty who are paid on the basis of student contract hour.
Before the start of the semester they sign contracts with the college undertaking to meet their classes
as per schedule. Unable to receive their corresponding holiday pay, as claimed, from 1975 to 1977 the
National Alliance of Teachers and Office Workers (NATOW) in behalf of the faculty and personnel of Jose
Rizal College filed a complaint against the college for said alleged non-payment of holiday pay from
1975 to 1977.
LA RULING
After the parties had submitted their respective position papers, the Labor Arbiter ruled:
1) That the faculty and personnel of the Jose Rizal College whose salary are paid by the month,
uniformly in a school year, irrespective of the number of working days in a month, without
deduction for holidays, are presumed to be already paid the 10 paid legal holidays and are no
longer entitled to separate payment for the said regular holidays;
2) That the personnel of the Jose Rizal College whose wages daily are paid are entitled to be paid
for the 10 unworked regular holidays according to the pertinent provisions of the Rules and
Regulations Implementing the Labor Code;
3) That collegiate faculty of the Jose Rizal College whose, by contract, have paid compensation per
student contract hour are not entitled to unworked regular holiday pay considering that these
regular holidays have been excluded in the programming of the student contact hours.
NLRC RULING
The National Labor Relations Commission in a decision promulgated, modified the decision appealed
from, in the sense that teaching personnel paid by the hour are declared to be entitled to holiday pay.
ISSUE
Whether or not school faculty who according to their contracts are paid per lecture hour are entitled to
unworked holiday pay?
SC RULING:
No, the school faculty who according to their contracts are paid per lecture hour are not entitled to
unworked holiday pay because the provisions in the Labor Code as to holiday pay do not apply in this
case. Subject holiday pay is provided for in the Labor Code (Presidential Decree No. 442, as amended),
which reads:
“Art. 94. Right to holiday pay — (a) Every worker shall be paid his regular daily wage
during regular holidays, except in retail and service establishments regularly employing
less than ten (10) workers;
(b) The employer may require an employee to work on any holiday but such employee
shall be paid a compensation equivalent to twice his regular rate; … “
and in the Implementing Rules and Regulations, Rule IV, Book III, which reads:
SEC. 8. Holiday pay of certain employees. — (a) Private school teachers, including faculty
members of colleges and universities, may not be paid for the regular holidays during
semestral vacations. They shall, however, be paid for the regular holidays during
Christmas vacations. …”
The aforementioned implementing rule is not justified by the provisions of the law which after all is
silent with respect to faculty members paid by the hour. Regular holidays specified as such by law are
known to both school and faculty members as no class days. Certainly the latter do not expect payment
for said unworked days, and this was clearly in their minds when they entered into the teaching
contracts.
On the other hand, both the law and the Implementing Rules governing holiday pay are silent as to
payment on Special Public Holidays.
It is readily apparent that the declared purpose of the holiday pay which is the prevention of diminution
of the monthly income of the employees on account of work interruptions is defeated when a regular
class day is cancelled on account of a special public holiday and class hours are held on another working
day to make up for time lost in the school calendar. Otherwise stated, the faculty member, although
forced to take a rest, does not earn what he should earn on that day. Be it noted that when a special
public holiday is declared, the faculty member paid by the hour is deprived of expected income, and it
does not matter that the school calendar is extended in view of the days or hours lost, for their income
that could be earned from other sources is lost during the extended days. Similarly, when classes are
called off or shortened on account of typhoons, floods, rallies, and the like, these faculty members must
likewise be paid, whether or not extensions are ordered.
