THE ATENEO Employees and Workers Union (AEWU) is set to be reimbursed more than Php 28-million worth of pay that was deducted from their members. Additionally, they will receive Php 2.9M in moral and exemplary damages, along with Php 3.1M for attorney’s fees.

This development came after the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) approved the issuance of a writ of execution on October 16. The order followed an April 19 ruling by the Office of the Voluntary Arbitrator (OVA), which found the Ateneo administration guilty of “illegal deductions” related to its Leave of Absence (LOA) policies.

In an interview with The GUIDON, Vice President for Human Resources Maria Victoria Cortez, PhD expressed that the administration will “voluntarily comply with the writ of execution without prejudice or retribution.” However, she stated that the University is elevating the case to the Court of Appeals (CA).

Pandemic woes

In 2023, the AEWU filed a complaint with the OVA against the Ateneo administration regarding the University’s flexible work scheme implemented at the height of the pandemic in 2020.

The working arrangement allowed employees to work on a rotational basis, which entailed reporting onsite for six days and being off-duty for 12 days. They were also required to accomplish LOA forms so that the non-payment of their salaries during their off-days would fit into the administration’s payroll system. According to the Union, they opposed this request.

However, the employees found out that when their leave credits were exhausted, these off-days were considered as LOAs, leading them to incur 200–350 days worth of LOA without compensation.

Contrarily, the administration claimed in a statement released earlier today that they only deducted three days of LOA and provided employees with three days of salary advancement even during their off-days. This setup was followed until the end of Fiscal Year 2020–2021 when the employees’ leaves would be replenished.

Additionally, Cortez explained that when workers returned fully onsite, Ateneo started to gradually recover these advances by deducting a portion of the workers’ salaries. In its statement, the University administration declared that they provided the OVA with a “sample computation to illustrate the recovery of salary advances.”

In its April 19 decision, the OVA deemed this deduction invalid as the Ateneo failed to provide a basis that there was such an agreement between the administration and the employees. On the other hand, the University’s flexible work scheme was ruled valid due to its compliance “with the documentation required by law.”

Long road ahead

Prior to the case filing in OVA, Cortez disclosed that a labor inspection took place in December 2021 after a Union member complained regarding the wage deduction issue. According to her, the inspector concluded that what the Ateneo did “was fair,” but noted that the University should have enforced a strict “no work, no pay” policy instead to avoid confusion.

However, Cortez reiterated that the administration enforced the advanced payment scheme due to their agreement with the previous AEWU officers. She shared that such an initiative was made after some workers had already exhausted all of their 40 paid leaves as early as September 2020.

Cortez added that the documentation of the arrangement was even sent to AEWU’s former president. As such, she pointed out that the agreement may have not been communicated by the past Union officers to its members. According to her, all these developments were also presented to the OVA.

Despite these pronouncements, the ruling stated that the Ateneo administration was unable to “substantiate its claim” of advanced payment related to LOA and offer substantial evidence for support.

“The respondent (Ateneo) could have [provided] sufficient documentation to prove its claim of advance payment of the LOA […] as it is the management and has easy access [to] the documents required,” the decision read.

The October 16 order also revealed that the AEWU presented a detailed computation of the deduction, which the administration failed to dispute or prove as incorrect or wrong. “Instead, the respondent sweepingly argued that the computation is vague, inadmissible, and holds no evidentiary weight,” the document read.

With the decision from the NCMB, the Ateneo administration brought the case to the CA and initially hoped for a Temporary Restraining Order to be issued. Yet, according to Cortez, the CA acknowledged that the decision of the voluntary arbitration tribunal is already executory and “will not cause irreparable damage to the University.”

Following this, Cortez clarified that since the case was elevated to the CA, there is “no finality” yet until it reaches the Supreme Court. Nonetheless, the administration’s statement expressed that the Ateneo’s compliance with the NCMB’s order “is without prejudice to restitution.”

 “Employees who were affected by that setup will really receive whatever we recovered from them,” Cortez noted.

Earlier today, an execution conference was held between the administration and the AEWU at the NCMB National Capital Region Branch to “thresh out matters relevant to the execution of the Decision.” This came after the NCMB’s order yesterday, November 12, which granted the administration’s motion to set the case for conference.

A community win

In a general assembly on November 8, AEWU President Raymond Tano shared their win in the NCMB and its succeeding developments with the Union members, as well as student organizations such as the Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan (SPARK) – Katipunan.

During the assembly, SPARK – Katipunan Spokesperson Miguel Basuel expressed the student body’s support for the Union’s causes, especially in other matters concerning Ateneo workers and the entire University community. “Kung kailangan niyong lumaban, kasama ang mga estudyante sa laban niyo (If [the AEWU] needs to fight, the students are with you),” he said.

Subsequently, SPARK – Katipunan also released a statement online last November 11, acknowledging the Union’s “historic win.” Amid this recognition, the organization also pointed out the pending grievances faced by the Union, calling for a change in the Ateneo’s system of dialogue and service with the University community.

“Unless a relationship of co-determination is truly established through multisectoral consultation and representation in the decision-making bodies of the University, these confrontations will continue to rise and Ateneans’ rights will be continually violated,” the statement read.

SPARK – Katipunan also called on other student organizations in the Ateneo to be in solidarity with matters affecting the community, emphasizing that the workers’ woes mirror students’ concerns about the administration’s transparency. “We continue to demand for a University that puts its community first,” the statement stressed.

With reports from Ana Rufa Padua, Azra Cagsawa, and Akeezia Carreon

Last updated: November 14, 2024