THE COURT of Appeals (CA) has upheld an order calling for a recount of ballots that would determine whether Standard Chartered Bank’s high-ranking employees in the Philippines would have a labor union of its own.
In an eleven-page decision, the appellate court’s Special Eleventh Decision has junked a petition filed by Standard Chartered, asking the CA to stick to a ruling by Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) mediator-arbiter Joel P. Petaca.
The Feb. 11,2013 decision declared that the National Union Bank Employees (NUBE)-Standard Chartered Bank Supervisors’ Association (SCBSA) cannot be certified as the sole and exclusive bargaining representative of the supervisory employees of Standard Chartered.
In October 2011, NUBE, on behalf of the Supervisors’ Association, filed a petition for certification election before the DoLE seeking to represent the supervisors of Standard Chartered.
Labor arbiter-mediator Mr. Petaca granted the petition.
Standard Chartered then submitted a list of eligible voters of 66 supervisors, a move that was later challenged by NUBE-SCBSA.
After elections took place on July 3, 2012, the bank had earlier challenged a new list of voters which it said included confidential or managerial employees.
As SCB raised questions about the employees on the list, Mr. Petaca ordered the canvassing of all ballots except for twelve contested votes.
Twenty-two votes were cast against the creation of the supervisors’ association, defeating the “yes” votes by just one ballot. It then prompted Mr. Petaca to declare that the association could not be a collective bargaining agent of Standard Chartered.
Mr. Petaca, in 2013, upheld his decision as he found that segregated ballots belonged to managerial and confidential employees.
However, in a decision dated Dec. 23, 2013, DoLE Undersecretary Rebecca Chato reversed the Feb. 23, 2013 order of Mr. Petaca and called for the opening and counting of the segregated ballots.
Ms. Chato said the 12 employees were not managerial nor confidential employees, contrary to the claim of Standard Chartered.
Standard Chartered then elevated the case to the CA, which later found it lacking in merit.
The bank contended that while the 12 employees perform other tasks which may be typically associated with rank-and-file or supervisory personnel, their tasks do not negate their managerial status, given the “peculiar” organizational structure of Standard Chartered as a foreign banking institution.
The bank also argued that four of the 12 employees are confidential employees as they have access to highly sensitive banking information which are under its custody.
The court ruled that the employees in question do not perform the responsibilities of the bank’s definition of a managerial employee.
The four alleged confidential employees “are not occupying confidential positions that would disqualify them from casting their votes in the certification election.”
“We find that the assailed decision is supported by justifiable reason and cannot be faulted with grave abuse of discretion,” the court said. -- Reden D. Madrid
source: BusinessworldThe Feb. 11,2013 decision declared that the National Union Bank Employees (NUBE)-Standard Chartered Bank Supervisors’ Association (SCBSA) cannot be certified as the sole and exclusive bargaining representative of the supervisory employees of Standard Chartered.
In October 2011, NUBE, on behalf of the Supervisors’ Association, filed a petition for certification election before the DoLE seeking to represent the supervisors of Standard Chartered.
Labor arbiter-mediator Mr. Petaca granted the petition.
Standard Chartered then submitted a list of eligible voters of 66 supervisors, a move that was later challenged by NUBE-SCBSA.
After elections took place on July 3, 2012, the bank had earlier challenged a new list of voters which it said included confidential or managerial employees.
As SCB raised questions about the employees on the list, Mr. Petaca ordered the canvassing of all ballots except for twelve contested votes.
Twenty-two votes were cast against the creation of the supervisors’ association, defeating the “yes” votes by just one ballot. It then prompted Mr. Petaca to declare that the association could not be a collective bargaining agent of Standard Chartered.
Mr. Petaca, in 2013, upheld his decision as he found that segregated ballots belonged to managerial and confidential employees.
However, in a decision dated Dec. 23, 2013, DoLE Undersecretary Rebecca Chato reversed the Feb. 23, 2013 order of Mr. Petaca and called for the opening and counting of the segregated ballots.
Ms. Chato said the 12 employees were not managerial nor confidential employees, contrary to the claim of Standard Chartered.
Standard Chartered then elevated the case to the CA, which later found it lacking in merit.
The bank contended that while the 12 employees perform other tasks which may be typically associated with rank-and-file or supervisory personnel, their tasks do not negate their managerial status, given the “peculiar” organizational structure of Standard Chartered as a foreign banking institution.
The bank also argued that four of the 12 employees are confidential employees as they have access to highly sensitive banking information which are under its custody.
The court ruled that the employees in question do not perform the responsibilities of the bank’s definition of a managerial employee.
The four alleged confidential employees “are not occupying confidential positions that would disqualify them from casting their votes in the certification election.”
“We find that the assailed decision is supported by justifiable reason and cannot be faulted with grave abuse of discretion,” the court said. -- Reden D. Madrid
